Assassin series RE: Encounter of the offworldly kind
by Askre5
Summary: Leonardo is recovering from an attack he refuses to tell about, even Splinter. As he recuperates, Raphael brings something home that distracts him and his family from their current problems. An alien boy.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Original version posted somewhere in September/October 2005 (I will not notify further on regarding the original version as the complete story was uploaded on my webpage on the same day. Other date references, refer to the rewritten version.)

Rewritten Story originally written and posted on. 14/10 2006

This story was and still is dedicated to to Splinter/Terran, she is one of my favorite TMNT fan fics authors. She and Green Willow inspired my to begin writing the story "Otherworldly Meetings" which this fic is a remake of. Her stories got me hooked along with GW's "Lia's Story."

This is for you Splinter. Thanks for inspiring me.

With that done, welcome to Encounter of the Offworldly kind, as I mention above, this story was originally written as Otherworldly Meetings and first posted on my webpage at Furnation way back in 2005 long before I started writing the assassin series or even was a member of Stealthy stories. Yes, this is the story that really started everything for me in terms of TMNT fan fiction. A year later I ended up rewriting the story a bit to make it a part of the Assassin series. However I'll touch more on that in the afterthought post. Enjoy the story.

The story takes place in the original 90's Movie universe, so these are the original Movie turtles. It takes place roughly three years after the first and the second movie. (I generally do not consider the third movie)

The timeline of this story within the Assassin series is roughly around the time of "When the assassin strikes." So the 2k3-Turtles are busy encountering the assassin for the second time while this story is happening. However you don't need to have read any of the Assassin series stories to understand this one.

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 **Disclaimer and Legal stuff:**  
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles®, including Raphael®, Michelangelo®, Leonardo®, Donatello®, April O'Neil®, and Splinter® are registered trademarks of Viacom International Inc. Based on characters and comic books created by Peter A. Laird and Kevin B. Eastman.

I do not own them in other words.

This story is written purely as a homage to the Teenage Mutant Turtles and not meant for any commercial profit or infringement on copyright. This story will immediately be removed if Viacom International wishes so.

The story, is copyright © 2006 by Hermann Gunnar Sigurðsson (Askre).

Other characters, including Akre, Dqrre, Rakl, Braka, Jala and Daram, Dia, Alo, Accrel, Mizuri, Kolaza, Ice and Air are © Hermann Gunnar Sigurðsson (Askre).

AU turtles in all their variety are based off the TMNT.

The species of Rytonas, rymskas, ymskas, umskas, otanis, cabbats and other off worlds, are © Hermann Gunnar Sigurðsson (Askre).

 **Warning: This story contains violence, some slight language and implied adult situation. If you are of a sensitive mind or easily offended then you have been warned. This story is rated T**

 **This story is canon to the Assassin series.**

 **This story is part of the Main story line of the Assassin series but is not an official long instalment. Rather an in-between story between the 4th and the 5th long instalment**

 _Sum: Leonardo is recovering from an attack he refuses to tell about, even Splinter. As he recuperates, Raphael brings something home that distracts him and his family from their current problems. An alien boy._

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 **Chapter 1**

Raphael took a deep breath where he crouched on a rooftop ledge in New York City. In one hand he was fingering one of his sai. He loved having the wind blowing freely about the dark green scaly skin, his carapace and plastron. The turtle really enjoyed watching the silent and half-dark streets below him, with the occasional car or a stray pedestrian walking about.

Yet as much as he liked doing this, he hadn't really gone out for enjoyment. He simply had to go out. He was a little tired of how his brother was acting and just had to go somewhere to be in some peace.

Few weeks ago, Leonardo had returned home after being gone for almost a whole day without any contact to the lair. He would probably have been interrogated on the spot if he hadn't been severely injured and pretty much on his last ounce of strength. His injuries were tended to and he allowed to rest. The blue masked turtle had slept for nearly a day before finally waking up.

However, when he had rested and should have felt strong enough to talk, he refused. His beak clammed shut and not even Splinter could get him to open it. Leo became very irritated if the matter was even touched on and very snappy. Don and Mikey eventually let it drop. Their old master did sometimes try to have his son talk in private, but Leonardo simply denied all access to his memory of whatever had happened.

This had become a little frustrating. Because sometimes it was as if Leo was recalling whatever happened, but as per usual refused to indulge anybody. Finally, few hours ago Raph had enough and stormed out, growling that he needed fresh air.

 _Well as fresh as it can be in New York,_ the red masked turtle had thought while leaving the lair.

 _Dammit Leo, I'm supposed to be the stubborn one, the one not sharing what's wrong. You're being as stubborn as I am,_ the turtle thought, he was still crouched on the ledge. He wondered for a moment if he should return back to the lair, but just for a moment decided against it. The night was surprisingly peaceful and he didn't want to face his brother just yet.

 _Man, if Casey wasn't on a trip I would drop by his place,_ he thought and dropped from the ledge. The turtle put the sai back to his belt while glancing around sighing. The ninja decided to head home after all. He had been out for hours and no need have the others worry about two turtles.

He started creeping forward until coming to the ledge on the other side of the roof, which would lead down into an alley. Nothing indicated that anybody was around who could spot him, so the turtle found the fire escape he had used previously to scale up the building. He prepared to slide silently down, but a sudden movement on the ground caught his attention. Something small had scurried into the alley. Swiftly the turtle jumped back to the roof and peered down. Just at that moment, two humans appeared at the mouth of the alley.

"I think I saw him go there," the other human said and was brandishing a tire iron as a makeshift club.

"Well then let's get him?" his partner growled and the two humans walked into the alley.

"The boss won't be happy that you let him escape," the former human claimed as he crept closer and the other followed close behind.

"He bit me and that thing has sharp teeth," the other grunted, his partner only snorted.

Raphael became very curious now. He recalled the first movement being of something small and possibly furry. The turtle would probably have dismissed it later as cat or a stray dog if the humans hadn't arrived. Now he was convinced it was something else.

"Where is that damn wolfish brat," the unarmed human said. That grabbed Raphael's attention and the red-wearing ninja took as good notes of details as he could.

 _That guy with the iron is obviously ready to clobber somebody with it; he is not just using it for self-defense. If he finds what he is looking for he is going to harm it._ Raphael gave a slight growl, too soft and low for the humans to hear. Sliding silently down the fire escape he saw that the two men were walking further away.

"I found him," the man wielding the iron growled. He was bent over and looking at something behind the dumpster. "Now come here you ugly brat."

"I'm going to spank the living daylight out of ya!" the other one snapped.

Raphael felt his anger rise dangerous levels. These men were going to hurt whatever was hiding, probably more terrified of them than they of it. That was pissing him off. It was also clear to that whoever they were after, did not want their company.

The man was now banging the dumpster trying to scare whatever was behind it out from there. The other man kneeled and tried to reach for something. There was a muffled cry of terror. Raph was now on the ground and silently, anger boiling, sneaked closer.

"I got him," the unarmed man shouted triumphant and there was another shriek. His partner raised the tire iron as if ready for a strike, but the club never fell.

A green three-fingered hand grabbed the wrist of the armed man and twisted it. The man roared in pain, but then a fist flew straight for his jaw clamming it shut and throwing him to the ground. His partner let go of whatever he had been trying to drag, jumped to his feet only to get a sucker-punch that threw him back to the alley floor.

 _This is too easy; they are no real fighters._ Raph snorted at this waste of his skills and talent. The formerly armed man lay almost knocked out after the near jaw breaking punch. His partner lay further away groaning holding his stomach where the turtle had hit him. No attempts to defend themselves.

 _Damn wimps._ The turtle shook his head.

"You two better get out of here or I'll really lose my temper," Raphael growled from where he stood, invisible in the shadows. The guys had only escaped his full fisted fury because the turtle wanted them off quickly so he could see what it was they had been scaring.

The man who had been punched in the stomach wasted no words on him. He scrambled to his feet and ran off. His partner tried to rise up shouting at the other to wait. Raphael fought the temptation to drag the guy up and throw him away. Finally, the disoriented human was standing and fleeing as quickly as he could. The turtle could actually hear him whine.

"Oh man, the boss is going kill us!"

Raph shook his head in disgust and crept to the dumpster. He could hear a movement behind it, something breathed rapidly and he could feel the tension and fear. Kneeling beside the large metal container the turtle peered behind it, he could see two small but bright eyes. They looked human enough but the face they belonged to was not.

"What on earth are you supposed to be?" Raphael wasn't really sure how to address this creature. It was obviously bipedal like him. If not for the gray fur, the tail and wolfish head, the turtle could have sworn he was staring at a terrified human child.

"Hey it's all right buddy, I won't hurt ya," his anger vanished; he offered carefully his hand towards the creature. However, the child just tried to squeeze himself further behind the dumpster. The ninja was starting to become concerned; by the looks of it, the child was a mutant like him.

 _But he can't be that old, three maybe four years old. It's just a goddamned toddler. I wonder where his mommy is._ He reached further inside and tried to grab the wolf child. The boy gave a whimpering sound and pushed himself further away between the container and the brick wall.

But the turtle was not going to leave him there. The parents hadn't arrived yet to clobber him or the two humans before. It was safe to assume that they were nowhere nearby. In fact, when Raph thought about it, the humans hadn't exactly acted surprised about the boy's appearance. They seemed to know who and what he was.

He stood up, grabbed the dumpster and started to pull it from the wall, closing for further escape behind it. Raphael could see the child better now. The boy froze in terror for a split second then scrambled to his feet and tried to dart off.

However, the wolfish boy was not quick enough for the ninja. Raph snatched him up from the alley ground. The child kicked and screamed but didn't bite. The turtle had to hold him tightly with one arm around his small and fragile body and a free hand over the muzzle to keep him silent.

 _Right, half the neighborhood probably heard this ruckus,_ the turtle thought and quickly fled further into the alley and located a manhole cover. Swiftly he slipped into the sewer with the terrified child before people arrived to investigate.

* * *

 _Oh great._ Raphael looked at his soaked hand. It came from the terrified cub he still held in his arms. The child had stopped trying to struggle or scream; he was now in silent terror crying.

Raphael for one didn't want the kid to walk in the tunnels, at least for now. It could be dangerous if you didn't know where to step. As well the turtle wanted to walk swiftly, hoping to reach the lair quickly as possible. He didn't really want to deal with the child alone. He could probably figure things out with his brothers and Master Splinter.

But the cub was crying and the turtle really had no idea what to do. He tried to harden his attitude; the others were going to help him deal with this. Mikey was good with kids and Don wasn't bad either. Then Raph almost halted, Leo's recent behavior wasn't exactly something a terrified kid would need to see.

 _Well nothing to do about that now, these guys were probably kidnappers by the sound of it,_ Raph growled in his mind and stopped for a moment.

 _I can't blame the kid though. For all he knows I'm some big green monster dragging him to my lair in order to cook him._ The ninja looked at the child. He knelt and put the boy down to the floor, but had to grab his tiny arms when the kid tried to run off as soon as his feet touched ground.

"Hey, hey no running here in the sewers, you could slip and fall into the stream here. It's not deep now but can get nasty during a storm." Raphael tried to keep his voice calm and soothing. However, his hard rough Brooklyn accent really worked against him right now.

The cub didn't try to struggle, stared at the green face sporting a red mask around his head with only two holes for the eyes. The kid shivered and not from the cold. Raphael's brow sunk, he wasn't sure anymore that this kid was a mutant. Don would have to confirm that part.

"Look kid I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just going to take you to my family so we can help you. You probably miss your mommy and daddy and we are going to help you find them," he said but the boy stared blankly at him. The turtle wondered if the child understood him at all.

Raph concentrated on trying to calm boy down. He dried the tears from the cub's face. Managing somehow not to be too forceful like his normal habit was, while sweeping his palm over the wolfish cheeks. That strangely enough seemed to calm the boy. He stopped crying and shivering but still stared unsure and frightened at the large turtle.

 _I'm not tall for human standards but I guess I must be a towering monster in his eyes,_ Raphael thought and managed to produce his best friendly smile. He usually grinned or his smiles had more wicked feeling to them.

Finally, Raph rose again, picked up the kid and continued onwards. They heard a distant thunder far above indicating a storm was coming. The child just rested up against his plastron in silence, occasionally eyeing up at the turtle.

* * *

"Hey Raph…" Michelangelo became silent and stared wide eyed at what his brother was holding.

"Dude, don't tell me he followed you home?" the orange-masked turtle asked pointing at the boy.

"Actually, yes he did," Raphael said with heavy sarcasm while walking down the stairs to the main section of the lair. "Can I keep it?"

Shaking his head, he put the child down. The boy stared at the other turtle, startled that there were more of these green things. When Raphael looked up again, Don stood now in the entrance of his subway car and Master Splinter walked out of his chamber.

"Raphael?" The rat looked at his hot-tempered son calmly but his eyes said everything, Raph knew he had to explain and did so.

The whole time the 'wolf cub' kept himself close. He was quite startled to see more turtles and now a big rat. So the child looked for the only comfort he had so far been given. Tiny arms wrapped around Raphael's right leg and hugged tightly. The cub noticed that everybody stared slightly surprised, although the one with the orange-mask looked more amused at this turn of events.

 _What the hell?_ No one was more surprised than Raphael. He stared down at the kid who just hugged his leg tighter at the attention.

"Well, you are right Raph. We better try and find who he belongs too," a voice addressed him.

The red masked turtle glanced towards the section that led to the dojo, in the entrance stood Leonardo holding his swords. The edges of his carapace, where they peeked over the shoulders, were chipped. A long scar went over his left cheek and down towards the throat.

The blue masked turtle was grim faced while taking in what he saw. However, his features did soften a little at the sight. Raphael was not exactly the person children would run first towards. Seeing the kid turning to him was a bit amusing.

"We better wait though 'til tomorrow. I heard a storm startin'," Raph mentioned, a bit relieved that neither Leo nor Splinter wanted to talk about when he went out earlier. They could now hear the water leak more rapidly down the drains outside.

"All right, get off of me kid." Raphael then tried to free his leg but the kid had a strong grip and was just dragged back and forth. Finally, he bent down and rather forcefully removed the boy from his leg. The child stared at him confused and startled. The turtle glared around, all eyes were still on him.

"Um… I mean are you hungry? Yeah let's go to the kitchen and grab a bite," he muttered and took one tiny hand into his. The turtle led the child to the opening of the kitchen that was deepest in the old subway station.

Leonardo shook his head, the smile gone and disappeared back into the dojo. The purple-masked one still stood in the doorway of his room, thinking before disappearing back inside. Splinter only nodded in approval and returned to his chamber.

In the kitchen, Raph wasn't sure what to offer the boy who was eyeing around. The room wasn't much to look at. There were some electric household items the turtles had salvaged and thanks to Donatello were now in working condition.

"April came down with some food!" he heard Mikey call. "Most of it is in the fridge."

"Alright, did she bring sodas?" Raph shouted back.

"Yep," was answered.

The turtle opened the small fridge. It contained various food items fresh from the store. Raph looked at the 'wolf' that stared hungrily at the food. His nose was vibrating, having clearly identified this as something you ate.

"Well are you a carnivore or can you eat anything like us? If you are a mutant then you probably can," Raph said more to himself since he was now sure the kid couldn't understand him. He grabbed a bread loaf and some toppings to go with it and made two sandwiches, the whole time the child watched his every move with hopeful eyes.

After the food had been prepared, Raph took again the cub's hand while holding the sandwiches in the other. He took the boy to the couch were Mikey was sitting and watching the TV.

"Here, sit." Raph pointed at the sofa.

The child probably understood the gesture rather than the words and climbed onto the furniture. He eyed the other turtle who had been watching them grinning. The cub was handed the sandwiches and Raphael pointed at his brother.

"You stay here with Mikey," he ordered and looked at the other turtle. "You keep an eye on him."

"Yeah, sure. I'll just switch to the cartoon channel," Mikey grinned wide and grabbed for the remote.

"Good excuse as any," the orange-masked turtle chuckled.

"You haven't so far needed and excuse," his brother shot and darted off before the other turtle could verbally retaliate.

"So what's your name kiddo?" Mike looked down at the boy. The kid just munched on his sandwich, staring blankly at the turtle.

"Hm." the orange masked ninja rubbed his chin a bit, learning now the same thing and Raph had. The kid didn't talk English.

Scratching his head Mikey started to flip the channels to search for something appropriate. The boy glanced at the TV and tilted his head a bit as the images were rapidly replaced. Finally, the turtle found the right channel and put the remote on the couch arm.

"Now this is a good show," the ninja told the boy and pointed to the television. A show with superheroes was starting.

The 'wolf' continued to maul on the sandwich staring half confused and half-in wonder at the television. He was not really making out what it was in front of him. He eyed Michelangelo again.

The cub watched the turtle go for something with his left hand. A bowl was mostly concealed beside Mike and in it was popcorn. The ninja took a handful of kernel and proceeded to stuff it into his mouth. Noticing the attention, Mikey grabbed for the container and offered the snack to the boy. Carefully the wolf took one corn, examined it before nibbling at it.

"You're going to be all night if you are eating like that dude, do it like this" Mikey chuckled when seeing how the boy ate. He dug his hand into the bowl, grabbed as much popcorn it could handle before stuffing that portion into his mouth, munching noisily.

The whole time the boy watched him astonished. Then in a mimic motion he did the same, tried to take as much corn into his one hand and ate that. He had finished the sandwiches by now.

"Now that's more like it." Mikey nodded in approval. He got himself some more popcorn and the two continued to watch the TV.

"Hey Mikey," a voice interrupted them. The orange-masked one turned in the couch to see Don standing in the doorway of his room.

"Yeah bro?" the sitting turtle wondered.

"You might not want to keep the TV on for too long. This could be a thunderstorm up there. If you hear thunder, unplug it," the purple-clad turtle warned.

"Aw, but what am I supposed to do if that happens?" Mike pouted.

"I don't know, entertain the kid or something. Just unplug the TV if you hear a thunder. I'm not taking any chances with that television," Don said and disappeared back into his subway car.

Mikey turned back to face the television with arms folded and muttering something. He glanced at the kid who had watched the whole exchange confused. The turtle shook his head and grinned once more.

"Annoying brothers, always telling you what to do," he said and got himself some more popcorn.

"Do you have any brothers?" the turtle asked the kid. Once more he only got a blank look from the boy.

 _We really must do something about this language barrier,_ Mikey thought and resumed watching the TV.

The storm continued over New York, sending heavy sky fall of rain on the city. Lightning's flashes and thunder echoed so loud that even far down in the sewers the inhabitants could hear it.

Mike sighed heavily when the booming noise reached down to the lair. Slowly using the remote, he turned off the TV. Then he rose up, walked to the power cord and unplugged the set.

"There it's unplugged, happy?" the orange-clad turtle called. More booming sounds reached down. The turtle glanced up, looking a bit uneasy.

"Might as well check that we won't flood down, sit tight little dude," he addressed the cub.

The child watched the turtle go up the steps to the ladder that led up. The entrance on the ceiling seemed secure enough but Michelangelo climbed up anyway, once there he opened and closed it to make sure. Then he slid down and disappeared into another part of the lair and out of sight. Suddenly all lights went out and there was dead silence. A loud curse came from somewhere in the lair.

"Don, the hell kind of a wirin' job is this? Can't handle a little storm?" Raph yelled.

"Hey, this is an old place you know. Don't worry I'll check it out. Where is the flash light?" Donatello said. His voice was much closer since he was still in his own room.

A roaring thunder echoed down in the lair and they heard a shriek. Three turtles somehow managed to stumble to the living room from various locations. At that moment power came back on.

"See, it wasn't even my wiring at fault." Donny looked triumphant at his angry red masked brother. "Probably just a glitch in the main grid."

"Yeah, yeah whatever," he snorted looking around the living room seeing the couch empty. At that moment Michelangelo came back from his checking around mission.

"Where is the kid Mike?" Raph asked pointing to the empty sofa. Michelangelo stared for a moment at the furniture.

"Uh, I told him to stay on the couch," he said. The turtles then noticed that the entrance on the ceiling was open.

 **End chapter 1**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 20/10 2006

Translation of the alien words, are provided on the author's note at the end.

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 **Chapter 2**

The cub ran through the wet damp tunnel. He really did not know where to run. The sudden blackout and the thundering noise had scared him badly. The unfamiliar scent, the alien surrounding both above and in the sewers were unnerving and hostile.

He slipped several times, waded through forming puddles until he came into a very flooded part of the sewer system. There was barely a ledge to stand on and in front of him was a roaring lake. It headed swiftly into one direction and from grates above, more water dripped down, adding the fuel for the stream.

The child tried to crawl sideways but his eyes were fixed on the wild water that was just few inches below. The cub was so transfixed that he failed to notice a part where water flew very rapidly down. He was coming closer to it with every tiny side step.

The boy gasped when the cold water it him. He lost his footing and fell headfirst into the stream. The child shrieked and waved his tiny arms in desperate motion to crawl out. His feet kicked trying to find anything to stand on but the stream was deep and the cub was carried further down.

Water and darkness was everywhere and the boy tried once more to make some sort of swimming movements. However, the current was too strong for him and was starting to pull him under. Desperation sank in and he tried to gasp for air, but only swallowed more water. Finally, the boy started to sink but strong hands grabbed his tiny body and lifted him up.

Raphael stood up with the crying, coughing and shivering cub. He wrapped his arms the best he could around the kid, trying to offer some comfort and security to him. The turtle breathed a sigh in relief. He had just missed it when the cub fell into the water. For a moment, he feared the current would have been too fast and strong, even for him.

The stream only reached the upper half of the turtle's legs, but he could still feel some force in it. They were apparently having a very bad storm tonight. Now that he had the child, he waded straight out of this particular tunnel. The cub made no protest, just curled up, shivering in his arms.

"What did I tell ya about runnin' in the sewers, especially in a storm," the turtle scolded but tried not to keep his voice too sharp. He was not amused, almost felt like spanking the boy for running into the flooding tunnels. The ninja had to remind himself that the kid probably had no idea what was going on.

They reached the lair shortly later. Only Splinter was there, the others had not returned from their search. The rat silently handed the turtle a towel before disappearing into the kitchen.

Raphael sat down in the sofa and began drying the fur on the boy with the towel. Trying to be as gentle as possible, but forceful enough so the fur would actually dry. He managed to remove the only clothing the child was wearing. Shorts made of some sort of leather. Since they were wet now the turtle threw them to a nearby chair. Raph then noticed a blanket had been produced and laid on the couch. He grabbed and wrapped it around the now mostly dry child that still shivered.

"Let him drink this, my son." Splinter appeared holding with his free hand a cup of warm tea. Raphael took it but instead of handing it to the boy, helped him drink it. His sensei had been careful to add some sweeteners to the drink so the cub wouldn't refuse the otherwise bitter taste.

"There now young one, rest and do not feel afraid. Tomorrow my sons will search for your parents," the rat said smiling warmly to the child and laid his old hand gently on the wolf's crown. This had some soothing effects and Raph who still held him felt the tense tiny body relax. Splinter nodded and with the support of this walking stick left the two be.

"So you have found him." Leonardo returned to the lair shortly later and behind him was a very regretful Mike; he sighed in relief when seeing the kid.

"Yeah he decided to take a little swim." Raph grinned and put the boy down beside him on the sofa. Donatello came running and the turtles gathered around.

"You gave us bit of a scare now buddy," Mikey said as he kneeled beside the sofa. Raph shoot him a glance.

"Of course he wouldn't have gone if you had watched him like I told ya to," he growled.

Mike winched and smiled uneasily, but his red-clad brother said no more. Don started to look at the cub more attentively and sat down in a chair near the couch. Leonardo stood behind the furniture, arms folded and regarding the child with a serious expression.

"Any of you got this funny feeling that there is something more to him than looks like." The purple-masked turtle tilted his head to one side while watching the boy. The kid was staring at the TV. Raphael had switched it on again and changed to a news channel.

"Well he hasn't tried to talk and I don't think he really understand English," Raphael mentioned, eyeing the kid. Mikey sat in the sofa on the other side of the boy. Leonardo's eyes narrowed suddenly, it was as if some idea came to him.

"Where exactly did you find the boy, Raph?" Leo asked. His brother eyed upwards while thinking the events earlier tonight over, then eyed the blue-clad ninja.

"Ya all know where Randy's is?" he mentioned, all of his brothers nodded. "It was in the alley just in front."

 _That's too far…_ Leonardo thought and his expression eased a little. He gingerly touched the scar on his beak, but nobody saw it as the attention was not on him.

"Danglandan," a squeaky voice said. Four set of eyes fixed on the blanket bundle that contained the cub. He had freed one of his arms and was pointing at the TV. A face of a human man talking to a news reporter was on the screen. The boy was staring at Raphael half expectantly.

"He speaks." Mikey grinned but Raph was frowning.

"But what the hell did he say?" he wondered.

"Nea danglandan." Now the wolf pointed at the red masked turtle.

"Ok this is strange. It is clearly a language, but what?" Donatello was becoming even more interested in the boy who was slightly disappointed now. The kid was becoming used to the four turtles, he had stopped shivering and curiosity gleamed from his eyes.

"Ok first he is trying to speak, maybe we should introduce ourselves," Mike suggested grinning wider. The boy looked at him curiously. The turtle pointed at himself with the thumb. "Mikey."

"M-makky," the wolf pointed at him.

"Mikey," the turtled said again slower.

"Makey," the boy repeated.

"Ah, close enough," Michelangelo shrugged then he laid a finger on Raph who growled and brushed it off.

"Raph," he introduced. Having followed the directions the 'wolf' now pointed at Raphael.

"Raphh," he said.

"Hey first try," Mikey patted the boy on the head. Then a finger was directed at Don. "Donny."

"Doo-Donne," said the boy.

"Donny," Michelangelo said again, and now the cub repeated mostly flawlessly. Next was Leo and thanks to his short nickname the boy had it mostly on first try. The child yawned; he was tired after a very hard and difficult day. Unexpectedly though he leaned against Raphael and seemed to be preparing to go to sleep there.

"What the…" Raph glanced down at the kid surprised. The boy curled up against the turtle and fell asleep. For a moment the turtles stared at the bundle that was their mysterious guest.

"You know guys, I'm not very convinced that this is a mutant," Don whispered. Only Raph and Mike nodded in agreement. Leo was stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"He was trying to communicate with us, probably trying to figure out what we were," Leo commented.

"Hm, sounds like the storm is dying down." Raphael looked up. There was no distant thunder. He stretched and yawned. Carefully the turtle pushed the cub to the side and stood up.

"I'm hitting the hay," he muttered and headed towards his subway car. He figured his brothers could take care of the boy now.

Don rose up as well and went to his lab, intending to try to dig up some information on his computer. Mike grabbed the remote and flipped to another channel. Leo on the other hand still stared at the sleeping child from behind the couch.

"I'll be in the dojo for while longer," Leo muttered, not really minding if Mike heard him or not. The blue-masked turtle disappeared out of the main section.

 _Man, wish Leo would say what is bothering him,_ the orange-masked turtle thought shaking his head. The ninja resumed his attention to the television. After few minutes of watching the TV the orange-wearing turtle eyed the blanket bundle, it slowly rose and sank due to the child's steady breathing.

 _Better bring you to the bed buddy, can't have you sleep here._ Carefully and gently, Mike picked up the cub and blanket. Holding the boy securely in his arms he tiptoed towards his subway-car room. He managed to open it without waking the kid and sneaked inside.

 _Here little dude, just sleep here. I'll sleep on the couch tonight,_ Michelangelo thought as he gently put the child on his bed. The ninja rearranged the blanket around the boy so it was comfortably around his thin body but not too tangled. Mike then put his own sleeping blanket over him. The turtle skipped out of the room.

"Hey Don." Mikey appeared in the small room Don had moved his lab into, instead of having in the main area like before. His brother was sitting at his computer, staring at the screen and typing in information.

"Hi," Donatello was so taken in on what he was doing that he barely acknowledged his brother.

"Any luck." Michelangelo eyed the screen, but he hardly could make out the information rolling through there.

"Well I'm barely started really," the other turtle muttered. He had removed his purple mask and it hung around the neck. "Of course if he is a mutant like us I probably won't see much on the news about him."

"And if he isn't?" Mike glanced out of the room.

"Then we can only hope that we find something when searching tomorrow." Don sighed.

"Well I'm sleeping on the couch, I let the little tyke have my bed. 'Night," Mikey said and left.

"Good night," Donatello murmured and continued to work on the computer.

* * *

He woke up well cuddled in two set of blankets. The cub turned in the bed and stared into the dark room he was in. There was a faint light source coming from somewhere outside, leaking into the room via crack on the curtain or from under the door. The boy rose up, he still felt dazed after yesterday's events. He was too young to really understand what had happened and only had some faint memories. An opening made of light, many strangers, the menacing looking city, two humans chasing him and then that green person.

First the boy thought it was some kind of a monster, he had a menacing scent, like somebody no one should mess around with. He remembered the other green person poking the one who had rescued him and said those strange foreign words.

 _Raph._ Popped into his mind. He remembered Raph growling and brushing the finger off his chest. The others had looked friendlier, especially the one with the orange mask.

The child could only wonder what was going on. Where they going to help him? They had given him food. The angry scenting one had saved him from watery death. However, he couldn't understand them and their foreign tongue. They had spoken to him but the words held no meaning to him, until the one with the orange mask had apparently tried to introduce them all. He now connected the words to each of the persons.

He started to look around, the boy was maybe young but his sense of smell was very good. The cub could detect a faint smell of Mikey on the bed he was in and the whole room, but that particular person was not there. He could faintly see something hanging on the walls, as well as there seemed to be stuff on the floor. He was definitely in somebody's bedroom.

His thoughts finally reached his parents. The boy's lips started to quiver, tears started to crawl down.

* * *

Mikey heard the sobbing coming from his room since he was still up watching the TV. Raising an eye-ridge, he jumped up from the couch and approached his car. He opened the door and turned on the light. In his bed, he saw the cub sitting curled up in the bed and crying.

"Hey buddy, what's wrong," the orange masked turtle asked gently and stepped inside.

The turtle sat on the bedside and reached for the crying boy. The child didn't protest, instead seemed to instantly seek the comfort from the ninja. He tried to wrap his tiny arms around Mike to hug him tight. There the cub continued to cry bitterly.

"Shhh, there, there it's all right," Michelangelo said soothingly and rocked the child back and forth gently patting him on the back.

"Everything all right?" Donatello appeared in the doorway, the crying had reached his lab and the turtle had arrived to investigate it.

"Well the little guy woke up and was crying," his orange masked brother explained and continued to try and soothe the boy.

"Mame, pabe," the cub cried. Mike's brow rose and he glanced at his purple-clad sibling.

"That sounds like mom and dad." Don rubbed his chin and narrowed his eyes a bit. Mikey nodded in agreement.

"Guess he misses his parents naturally," the younger turtle said and kept trying to calm the distressed child down.

"Yo, everythin' ok in here?" Suddenly Raphael pushed himself inside of the room. He wasn't wearing any of his gear.

"Well the kid woke up, is a little upset," the orange-clad turtle explained. "Probably dreamt about his parents."

Raph frowned a little. He had to admit that after having saved the boy two times on the same evening, the usually red-masked ninja was starting to feel a bit responsible for him. Of course the turtle would never admit that openly. After a second hesitation, he eyed the doorway.

"Say, wasn't he distracted by the television?" Raphael wondered.

"Well… he did seem interested in it if that's what you mean." Don shrugged, remembering how fascinated the little boy had been by the TV. Raphael just nodded at that and walked closer to the bed.

"Hey kid," he said as gently as possible and put one hand on the child's shoulder.

The boy turned his head to look up. The tears shimmered in his eyes and still gave sob like whimpers. His nose began vibrating and that didn't escape the attention of Donatello. The purple-masked turtle frowned in heavy thought and watched as Raphael seemed ready to pick the cub up.

 _Interesting._ Don had to admit being impressed when with little hesitation, the boy allowed his hot-tempered brother to take him into his arms. Michelangelo also watched with a surprised look.

Raphael ignored them. After making sure he was holding the boy properly he walked towards the door. Donatello stepped out of the way but followed his brother out, as did Mikey and they witnessed him sitting down with the still crying boy in the couch.

Raph didn't really bother to say much to the kid, though he did hold him gently. The TV was still running but the turtle picked up the remote and changed the channel. Don and Mike both stared dumbfounded. The boy kept crying for a while, but Raphael kept changing the channel causing the sound always to switch. This began slowly to catch the attention of the cub.

 _I'll be…_ Donatello was at lack of words. Slowly the child turned around in Raph's arm to glance at the source of these weird sounds. When that happened, the turtle stopped the channel surfing. Mikey noticed now that his normally red-masked brother had never stared at the TV, but kept an eye on the boy.

Slowly the two other turtles walked closer to the couch. The boy was still looking sad and tears occasionally came down. However, he had stopped whimpering and sobbing, watching the television with a hint of curiosity.

"Um… you feeling ok, Raph?" Mikey finally gathered up the nerve to ask, leaning slightly forward to stare at his sitting brother.

"I'm feelin' fine," Raphael grunted glaring at the orange-clad ninja. "It worked didn't it?"

Neither Don nor Mike could disagree with the results. The boy had stopped crying and was staring at the images on the TV, tilting his little head in mild surprise. Raphael glanced for a moment at the kid and then eyed the TV. He grinned, he had hit one some reruns of a car race. Apparently, the colorful and speeding cars had caught the boy's attention fully.

Finally, the child began looking tired again and yawned wide, showing a wide array of small but sharp teeth. Donatello caught a glance of them and was surprised not seeing any fangs in the mouth. The purple-clad one was now really beginning to wonder if this boy was really a mutant.

"Not one word," Raph grunted in a low voice at Mikey when the boy leaned back in his arms and was beginning to doze. The orange-masked one was grinning wide at the scene.

"What is going on?" The turtles looked around to see Leonardo approaching. By the looks of it, he had been coming out of the dojo and not his room.

"The kid woke up and was crying, Raph managed to quiet him down," Donatello explained to their brother. Leo stopped on his walk and stared at the purple-clad one for a moment before looking at the couch.

"I just remembered that he was interested in the TV. Better to distract him with something. I don't think he understands us," the usually red-clad one muttered.

None of the currently masked turtles got a chance to comment more on their brother. The door to Splinter's room opened and the old rat stepped out. The elder eyed his sons for a moment and smiled.

"Ah my sons, I was hoping that you would still be awake," he said and walked towards them.

"I have been meditating and thinking about the foreign aura I felt from the young one," their sensei explained and sat in his recliner. He eyed each of the turtles before continuing. The boy was peacefully sleeping in Raphael's arms.

"I do not believe that the child is of this world my sons," Splinter mentioned and regarded the child. "No, I feel that though he may wear the appearance of a wolf, his origins are not the same as ours."

"So you are saying he is not a mutant, Master Splinter?" Don asked and his brow rose slightly.

"I cannot say what he is. However, I sense something from him. There is a reason why he is here and I fear that someone is out there who wishes him harm. I suggest you start early your search tomorrow, but for safe keeping keep the child here in the lair," the old ninja master told them. "Although it is a risk to move in the daylight, we must use all possible hours available. But only go two for each search, two can stay here and keep an eye on our young guest."

"Yes Master Splinter," Leonardo nodded. "Don and I can take the first turn, then Raph and Mikey."

Master Splinter nodded in approval and stood up from his seat. He bade his sons good night and returned to his room. There was a bit of an awkward silence now in the lair, Raphael had turned off the TV and glanced at the kid.

"Well, better get him to bed," he said and slowly stood up. The child whimpered a little and curled up in the turtle's arms.

"Well he sure seems to like you, Raph," Mikey mentioned with a grin, Don was smiling as well.

"Whatever," Raphael muttered and headed for his own room and before his brothers could say anything he had disappeared inside with the cub.

"I'm going to bed, we'll start early tomorrow Don, no later than seven," Leonardo said glancing slightly at Donatello before heading for his room.

"Well, I better go to bed then myself," the purple-clad one muttered. Mikey shrugged and both turtles disappeared into their subway cars.

* * *

The boy woke up next morning but his nose immediately picked up a different scent. Looking up the child noticed that he was not in the same room and the last one. He could pick up the strong scent of the one called Raph. He was sleeping in his bed and no doubt in his room.

The cub kicked away the blankets and sat up eying around, at first trying to figure out where he was. Then the boy remembered and wondered if he would ever see his parents again. The child heard voices outside and recognized them though he didn't understand the words said.

Carefully the kid climbed out of the low bed and made his way to the door. Fortunately it had been left open a crack so even though he was small, the cub managed to open it and walk out. He met Raphael who was coming out of the kitchen with a bowl of cereal.

"Hey, look who's up," a grin came on the turtle. The wolf gazed at him a bit surprised. Raph wasn't wearing his mask or his other battle gear. The kid had been too distressed last night to notice the lack of mask on the turtle.

"He's awake?" Mike came jumping from another room not in his battle gear either. He held the shorts the wolf had worn. "I managed to dry his shorts, spiffy little things, not even Donny could make up his mind if it's leather or not."

The usually orange clad turtle wasted no time. He grabbed the cub from the floor, held him over his knee and quickly dressed him. Then the ninja took a leap to the TV and put the boy in front of it. The whole time the child was wide-eyed and not sure if he should giggle or scream. Then cub watched as Mike attacked his brother, stealing the cereal bowl and bringing it to him.

"You know you just could have asked," Raphael grunted when the bowl was pretty much ripped away from him. He had intended anyway to give it to the kid since he was up, thus hadn't protested. However, the normally red-masked one was still a bit miffed how it had disappeared. Mikey leaned on the turtle with one arm on his shoulder grinning.

"Aw where is the fun in that," he joked, skipping away when Raphael launched a fist at him.

The boy looked at the bowl that had a delicious smell, then at the television. Mikey had put on a kids channel, clearly intending for him to be watching that. He turned his head to where Michelangelo and Raphael were in a middle of a fight. It was short lived this time. Mike was soon on the floor crying uncle and Raph was cackling like a maniac.

"And have that for stealing my food," he growled and stood up of his brother.

"It was for a good cause," Mikey wheezed rising to his feet and disappeared after Raphael into the kitchen.

The wolf took the spoon that was in the bowl in front of him. Carefully he lifted it and examined the content. The cub then put it in his mouth.

 _Yum,_ he thought in his own language.

 **End chapter 2**

* * *

 **A/N:** Here are the translations of the words the boy said.

 **Danglandan:** Means human or more specifically a male human, it is incorrect to use this word over human woman.

 **Nea:** Negative word, can mean, no, nothing, none and most negative words.

 **Mame:** Strictly speaking "The mother". Not usually used for "a mother".

 **Pabe:** "The father", not used for "a father".


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 23/10 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

Leonardo and Donatello crept over the rooftops, careful not to expose themselves too much. It had been two days since the child had been brought to their lair and so far no luck. Raph and Mike had searched yesterday.

They were on the exactly same building Raphael had been on two nights ago. Carefully the turtles peeked down the alley where their brother had found their guest. The tire iron still lay on the same spot and the dumpster had not yet been moved back into place.

"We have already scouted this place high and low," Don mentioned a bit surprised to be back.

"I know," Leo simply said and began looking around; there was a heavy frown on his face.

"Well I doubt we are going to find anything new," the purple-masked one muttered and glanced down into the alley.

"I have been wondering. Raph said both the humans and the boy came into the alley that way." Leo pointed to the street.

"This isn't a crowded street during nighttime," Don told him with a shrug. "It isn't even crowded during daytime."

"No I meant… he didn't mention anything about there being some form of a portal or anything." The blue-masked turtle folded his arms and stared into the distance.

"Portal?" Donatello looked confused at his brother.

"Never mind," his brother muttered, still staring into a certain direction.

 _Oookay, and here I was hoping he was getting over the weird behavior,_ the purple-clad one thought. Leo had acted almost normal for the past two days. However, it seems he had dropped back to his strange attitude.

"I don't think the boy could have come from the other direction, not unless he can leap over a large wall." Donatello decided to just focus on whatever search they were making. Leonardo glanced down into the alley and saw the wall his brother mentioned. The turtle nodded and now actually smiled a little.

"Not even Mikey could leap that and he's the agilest of us," the blue-clad one said. Don nodded in agreement.

"All right, let's see if we can gain some information elsewhere," Leo suggested and crept away from the ledge. "Maybe we should…"

He halted when Donatello grabbed his shoulder and turned him. His brother was staring down in the alley mouth wide open. Peering down again Leonardo raised an eye ridge in a mild surprise. Some sort of a portal was opening, oval in shape and emitted green light. Through it walked some strange creatures.

 _That's not… that's not like his portal… and those are definitely not..._ Leo almost let out a breath of relief and for a split second smiled wide. However, it immediately disappeared and his brow sunk into a frown when inspecting the newly arrived.

 _I think Master Splinter was right about the boy not being from this world,_ Donatello thought while two wolfish looking humanoids walked through. After them came two other creatures that would best be described as jackal like and one hyenaoid. All males and wearing similar shorts the boy wore.

"Uh, you think we found one of the parents?" he whispered, they heard the creatures talk but couldn't understand them. The portal closed but that didn't alarm them so they must have had means to open a new one.

The turtles quickly ducked out of sight when the creatures began looking around. Leonardo frowned as he considered his brother's question. He didn't like the looks of these newly arrived beings. One of them being the parent was too much coincidence for his taste.

 _And I know now that appearance can all too well deceive,_ the blue-masked turtle thought.

"I somehow doubt these are the parents. Remember what Master Splinter said, there is somebody out there who wishes the boy harm," he said aloud.

"Yes you're right and it's a bit strange that they could just pop up in the very alley that the kid showed up in." Donatello pointed out.

Leonardo looked at his purple-masked brother surprised. He hadn't even considered that, but now that he thought about it that was odd. The blue-masked turtle remembered the two men Raph mentioned. They had known who the kid was. Raphael had suspected them to be kidnappers and his sword-wielding brother was inclined to agree now.

"Come we better tell the others," Leo said and began making his way away from the ledge. Donatello followed, occasionally glancing towards the alley.

They quickly stole away unseen, but not necessarily unnoticed. Down in the alley, the two wolfoids stared up at the building the two turtles had been on. Both had suspicion growing on their wolfish faces and their noses were vibrating.

* * *

There was a deep silence in the lair. Splinter sat in his chair with eyes closed deep in thought. Kneeling in front of him were Leonardo and Donatello. Raphael was nowhere to be seen although punching sounds could be heard from the dojo. Mikey was watching the television with the boy. The child had pretty much fallen in love with it, staring at the moving picture mesmerized.

"Hm." After minutes of silence, Splinter finally opened his eyes.

"I have never heard of anything like that before. It sounds like unexpected guests from another world have arrived. Did you see if they carried any weapons?" their sensei asked, Leonardo nodded.

"They all had swords, big ones similar to scimitars," the blue clad one answered.

"I would love to see what they use to make a portal like that," Donatello added in grinning. Splinter smiled knowing his son's love for technology. However, Leonardo made a strange face nobody noticed.

"But do you believe they are after the child?" the rat then asked. Leonardo didn't hesitate to nod yes.

"I don't think they were related, but I definitely think they came for him. The two wolfoids had similar traits and the boy, so I guess they are the same species." He looked at Don who nodded in agreement, having made the same observation.

"On top of that, they appeared in the exact same spot and Raph got the kid from. That's just too much to be coincident. I wouldn't be surprised that these were the people the two men Raph beat up report to," the purple-clad ninja then added.

"Don… even so, would they be able to open a gate so close to that place?" Leo asked. His brother eyed at him with a thoughtful look.

"Well… yeah I would say it is possible. Somehow they must be able to open a portal, and that means they have to know how to get to this world. That requires coordinates and all they would really need is the coordinates to open a portal in that alley. Raph didn't see it, he was busy scaring the guys away, but it is possible one of them had a device that gathers up coordinates just in case," Donatello explained with a shrug. "I mean, considering that they could open a portal at all, I am willing to allow the possibility that they can gather coordinates like that."

 _Sounds… sounds so simple._ Leonardo unconsciously scratched the scar on his beak. Splinter stood up from his chair and grabbed his walking stick. The two turtles rose to their feet.

"I must meditate on this, I would advice that you go and try and find out more but go three this time. One of you must stay here and guard the boy. I have feared for his safety, he must be linked to something serious since it spans different worlds." The rat turned away and headed for his room.

"Let's split the watch in one day each," Leo suggested as he and Don walked to the couch. He got no complaints from his purple-masked brother.

"Mikey we are going topside again and trying to get more information on those newly arrived creatures. You want to take the first watch to watch the kid?" the blue-masked one asked his brother.

"Oh sure, no problem bro," Mikey grinned and patted the cub who sat on the couch with him. The boy didn't even look up now, too busy watching the TV.

"Raph! We need your help," Leo called and soon his brother came from the training room, sweat pouring down his body.

"Wha? Goin' up? Sure let my get my things," Raphael grunted.

He noticed that this time his brothers were going to wear their usual disguise. By now it was probably more light outside and more people about. He went back to the dojo and came back ready for battle with the red mask, pads and sai.

The boy looked up the moment Raphael had come out of room. He watched as the three turtles climbed disguised in coats and fedora hats out of the lair. He looked at Mike whose attention was fully on the TV. The cub furrowed his brow as if in heavy thought.

"Maakey," he said then suddenly.

"Hey you said my name… well almost." Michelangelo turned his head to the kid smiling. The boy kept staring at him and the turtle waited, wondering what he was up to.

"Maakey." The kid pointed at Mikey who laughed.

"Yes I'm Mikey," the ninja nodded. The wolf seemed to get more confident now pointed a tiny finger at himself.

"Braka," he said as if he was announcing it.

 _Did he just say a name._ Mike's brow rose up in slight surprise. He gestured to the boy.

"Braka?" he inquired. A gleam of excitement shined on the boy who smiled and nodded.

 _He told me his name? Well glad I can start calling him something,_ Michelangelo thought and smiled.

"Ege Braka," the child said jumping up and down where he sat.

"So Braka, how about we go to the kitchen and get some more snacks," the youngest turtle grinned and gestured to the kitchen. Whether the kid understood or not was probably not important. The boy knew now where the kitchen was and knew if Mikey went there, something good would come out. Thus he nodded furiously.

* * *

It was getting late when the three other turtles returned. The cub had fallen asleep on the sofa and Mikey still sat and watched the television. He looked up when his brothers walked in.

"So anything new?" he asked curiously.

"Well we went back to the place where Raph found the kid but found no trace of them," Leo told him, sighing wearily. "In fact we didn't find anything at all."

"So who's watching the kid tomorrow?" Donatello asked as he removed the coat.

"I can watch him tomorrow," the red-masked turtle muttered while undressing. He ignored the surprised stares from his brothers and stormed into the dojo. Shortly later they could hear punching sounds.

"Aw, I think he has a soft spot for the boy." Don tried to suppress his giggling as he walked to his lab, intending to try again to find anything useful on the internet.

"So he's sleeping?" Leonardo went to the couch and leaned on its back. Mikey nodded and gently caressed the boy's crown.

"Cute little bugger," he said grinning and before looking at his brother. "Oh and he managed to tell me his name, his name is Braka."

"Good, at least we know now what to call him. No use calling him kid or the boy forever." Leo nodded then stroke his chin thoughtfully.

"So we're dealing with wolves from other dimensions?" Mikey inquired looking up at his brother.

"Well… not sure wolf applies. Like Splinter mentioned, they may look wolfish… but there was something… more alien about them," Leonardo said and glanced down at the sleeping child.

 _I wonder if you are from the same world and if they know him._ The blue-clad turtle continued to regard Braka.

"Yo Mike," was whispered. The two turtles turned to see Raph lean in the doorway of the dojo. "The kid, is he asleep?"

"Yeah," Michelangelo nodded.

"Just put him in my bed then, I'll sleep on the couch," the red masked turtle said and disappeared back into the training room.

"Is it just me or is Raph growing attached to the boy?" the orange clad turtle wondered while he carefully picked the cub up into his arm.

Leonardo didn't respond, only watched as his brother disappeared into Raphael's subway car. He sat down in the recliner close to the sofa. His brother returned shortly later to watch some more TV. The blue-masked one, although with the eyes on the program, was too distracted by his own thoughts to really watch it. In the end he rose up again and disappeared into the dojo.

Don emerged from his lab much later and didn't seem all too happy. Mikey glanced at the approaching turtle. The question on what was wrong was burning on his minds. The purple-masked one answered before anybody asked.

"I'm afraid that I can't even find a single conspiracy theory about other dimensions or wolfish looking aliens. Plenty of stuff about giant reptiles in the New York sewer system though," the turtle grunted and sat down in the couch beside Mike. His brother made no comment and returned watching the television. Shortly later Raphael emerged from the dojo.

"Say Mikey, didn't you say the kid got a name?" the turtle inquired while using a towel to stroke sweat from his head. He then laid it over his shoulders.

"Yeah, Braka," the orange masked answered glancing back at his brother for a moment.

"Should we try teaching the kid English?" Donatello wondered and rubbed the back of his neck. "So we can at least communicate with him properly?"

"Meh, he is so young he will probably pick it up from us anyway, he can't be older than four," Raph commented shrugging as he walked towards the bathroom.

"I'm not as optimistic about that," Don muttered shaking his head.

"Can't you just build a universal translator Donny?" Mike smiled innocently. The purple-masked turtle rolled his eyes at hearing that.

"Please be realistic, that's one thing from Star Trek I have never understood," he said shaking his head.

 _I don't need to tell him that I have tried though,_ he thought and leaned back in the couch.

"It doesn't really matter that the boy understands us. It is more important that he trusts us and feels safe enough here while we try and find his parents," Leonardo said as he himself came out of the training room, sheathing his sword. He had apparently caught some of the discussion. He glanced at Michelangelo, narrowing his eyes.

"Mikey, tomorrow we will search near a construction site that is close by where the creatures appeared. It's possible to use it as a hideout. So no playing around with any machines that have been left behind," he said sternly.

"Gee, one wall and you are marked for life." Mikey raised his hands and grinned.

"I mean it Michelangelo. We risked being seen that day." Leo scowled.

He was referring to a very disastrous night on patrol. The turtles had passed a construction side and Mikey hadn't been able to resist playing around. The orange-masked turtle managed to have a bulldozer collide with a wall. Naturally, his brothers hadn't been too amused.

"All right I won't mess around," Mike promised and dropped the grin. When Leonardo used his brothers' full names, he was very serious.

* * *

Braka woke up early the next morning. He sat up and looked around; once more he was sleeping in Raph's room and the red clad turtle had slept on the couch. The boy tilted his head a little when thinking about this rough and tough individual. He still couldn't understand what was said to him, but the child was beginning to trust the ninjas and especially Raphael.

He crawled off the bed and headed out of the room. The wolf heard sounds from the dojo. Braka sneaked closer carefully and looked inside. Further in the room hanging from the ceiling was big and worn punching bag. Hammering his fists into it was Raphael. By the look of the sweat pouring off him it was evident that the turtle had been working out for awhile.

Occasionally Raph would also deliver a swift kick at a speed that hardly registered in the cub's eyes. Then he continued to punch the bag viciously. Sometimes he stepped back, drew ups his fork like weapons and started to spin them on his fingers. Then Raphael stung around the bag with the sai making pretend attacks. Braka tilted his head and stared in surprise at this wonder.

It was almost an hour before Raphael stopped his work out and turned towards the boy smirking slightly. Though he hadn't indicated it, the red clad turtle had been well aware of his stunned audience.

"Not much of a workaholic like my bro, but it does feel good to vent out on inanimate objects," he said grabbing a towel and water bottle, the turtle walked closer. Braka still stared stunned at him.

"I better get ya something to eat." Raphael walked to the doorway of the room drinking from the bottle. There he stopped and gave the boy a glance.

 _Oh right._ Raph remembered that the kid didn't understand him. He gestured outside and indicated to Braka to follow.

The boy began to follow but as he was leaving the dojo after the ninja, the child took one last glance around. Then Braka quickly hurried after Raphael who headed for the kitchen.

In there Raph gathered together a cereal box, a bowl, a spoon and a carton of milk. The boy sat down by the table, recognizing the routine by now. The turtle poured cereal and milk in the bowl and gave it to the kid, then he turned to get another bowl being hungry himself.

"Hjakk dad," Braka said and began munching on the breakfast.

 _He did not just call me dad did he?_ Raph had frozen as he was reaching for a bowl in the cupboard. He glanced unsure at the boy.

* * *

"You think we would be faster if we separate?" Mike asked as the three turtles casually walked down the street trying not to make any eye contact with anybody.

"Probably, but I don't think I want to risk it. They only carried swords but they probably know how to use them," Leonardo whispered to his brother.

"But we are not going to fight them or anything. We are just going to find where they went and what they are doing here right?" Mikey inquired.

"Well yeah, that's right. I at least don't want us to face them until we know their motifs," the blue-masked turtle said. They made sure nobody was looking and slipped into an alley. Don saw it was the same alley and Raph had found the boy.

"We have been here before." He let out a frustrated sigh. His brother only nodded and walked further in. Donatello rolled his eyes and shook his head not understanding the obsession Leonardo had with this spot.

"You know, maybe they gave up and went back home." Mikey walked behind his brothers looking around. He accidentally bumped into Don who had stopped. "Ouch."

"Careful," Donatello muttered while watching Leo inspecting the dumpster.

"What's on your mind bro?" Michelangelo also noticed how absent-minded his brother was.

"Just a funny feeling," was the blue-clad one's only reply.

Mikey turned around just in case anybody was watching. He was getting this strange feeling that they were not as alone in the alley as it appeared. The turtle looked at Don who nodded, sensing the same thing. They walked further in. It would be dark soon but Leo wasn't returning to the lair until close to midnight.

"You three make great effort of appearing human," said a slightly deep voice suddenly, it had a hint of authority in it.

Spinning around the turtles looked for the owner. Then they realized it had been called and looked up. On a ledge of a building, they saw one of the wolfish creatures Leo and Don had seen yesterday. Its fur was lighter gray in color than Braka's, although it seemed to be darkening in some areas.

"What makes you think we aren't human?" Leo challenged not ready to reveal himself just yet. They could see the wolf cock his head back in laughter.

"Let's just say that both your physical shape and scent doesn't match," the creature said. "Why don't you come up here on the rooftop? Its secure enough, no prying humans. We need to talk."

The turtles looked at one another, then located a fire escape they could use to climb up on the rooftop. They hesitated at first and Leo told them to be on their guard before ascending.

When the ninjas arrived they saw the light gray one standing near a large chimney. Beside him was the other 'wolf', much darker in color and his expression rivaled Raph's common angry ones. Standing guard were the two jackal creatures and the one hyenaoid. They were close to the edges of the building but remained hidden. Their eyes were fixed on the turtles ready to spring into action at moment's notice.

"If my nose isn't failing me, which it shouldn't, then by judging from your scent you are reptilians," the light gray 'wolf' said smiling. Leonardo frowned, he really didn't like that smile.

 _Smiles can be deceptive._ He shuddered at memories he still refused to reveal to his family.

"You can scent what we are?" Mikey accidentally said aloud and Don's elbow arrived flying into his stomach. "Ow."

"Let's not go into discussion on what we can do and what we can't. Speaking of scent, I can also smell that you three know about somebody I am looking for," the same 'wolf' kept speaking and had his arm folded now, his expression was more serious.

"What makes you think that." Leo made another challenge. He had this strong feeling that the three creatures standing guard were not just making sure humans didn't come too close.

"Some of my men reported that something attacked them roughly two or three nights ago. And the scent of the one who attacked is still down in the alley, you three smell related to him," the 'wolf' said and his eyes narrowed.

 _Damn he has a good sense of smell._ Don had to restrain his jaw from dropping in surprise.

"I do not wish to hurt anybody but don't think I won't. I only came to this dimension to retrieve someone that escaped from my men, nothing else," he said. The other 'wolf' gave a frightening growl but the turtles ignored it.

"Remove the clothes," Leo whispered to his brothers who nodded silently. Soon the coats and hats were on the floor revealing the turtles in their full battle gear. That didn't seem to impress the 'wolf'.

"I take it that I am going to have to do it the hard way." He sighed looking down shaking his head.

Raising it up again the 'wolf' eyed each of the three guards nodding. They drew their swords and the turtles retrieved their weapons. The ninjas stood ready as the jackaloids and the hyenaoid approached growling threateningly.

 **End chapter 3**

* * *

 **A/N:** **Ege:** Pretty much means, I, me, my, mine, all in that category.

 **Hjakk:** A gratitude gesture that basically means thank you in all categories, formal, informal and stuff.

And no Braka did not strictly speaking call Raph dad, however this will be explained in-story later on.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 31/10 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

 _Slow approach, don't rush in head first._ Leo glanced at each opponent. He was currently facing the hyena creature.

From behind the largest of the jackaloids came, Donatello got ready for him. On the left approached the other who was slightly smaller and with wider ears. He was Mike's opponent. The orange masked turtle grinned nervously and twirled his nunchakus.

"Remember guys, we don't know how strong these creatures are or how skilled they are in combat. So don't try anything foolish," Leo whispered to his brothers.

 _That was my worst mistake,_ the blue-clad ninja thought but managed to refrain from winching at his memories.

Leonardo really missed an angry sarcastic comment from Raph now. Previous experience, the one he still refused to tell about, had told him that off-worldly enemies were far more unpredictable than the usual ones. There was also something about the smirk the light gray 'wolf' sported.

With his katana drawn and ready, he approached the hyena that swung the sword. Leo dodged it easily and retaliated with a swift kick towards the creature. His opponent threw himself aside and tried another hit with the weapon. The turtle blocked it with one of his swords and now they were circling one another.

The blue masked one could hear that Mikey and Don were in full-fledged battle with their opponents, but his attention was fully on the hyena creature. He could now see his opponent was swift and agile, made some surprising and sudden movements.

 _Still he's slower… his main focus in battle is using the sword._ Leo could feel a slight tinge of relief come over him. Perhaps this battle would be easier than he thought.

* * *

Mikey threw himself at the jackal, quickly ducked when the sword came flying and tried to give a swift punch at the muzzle. He made contact and the creature staggered back few steps but managed to dodge a kick coming from the ninja.

"Ohh fast aren't you?" the turtle teased.

The jackaloid growled furiously and tried once more to hack Mike with his sword. The turtle back-flipped, pushing himself into air landed behind the creature. He did a well-aimed kick at the alien's back. His opponent hadn't been expecting this and was thrown to the ground and his sword slipped from his grip.

"Whoo hoo, give it up for the good ol' jump and kick." Mikey chanted grinning wide and swung his nunchakus skillfully.

The jackal creature jumped back to his feet facing him. He didn't bother retrieving his sword and put up his fists in a boxing position. Seeing this, the turtle decided to be fair and put his weapon back on the belt. He briefly glanced where Don was having much more difficulties facing his opponent. Michelangelo didn't like the looks of this; his brother had lost the Bo staff.

* * *

Don had to use his skills at dodging and ducking to the limits. His staff had been hewn in two halves, at the first impact when he tried to block the jackal's first slash with the sword. The turtle didn't like the mad glint in the creature's eyes and his almost sadistic grin. It was even more sadistic than Raph could ever dream of coming up with.

 _Ah crud._ He threw himself to the ground when the sword arrived again, rolled away and jumped back to his feet. The jackal sneered and came running, but didn't come too close for Donatello to kick or punch.

 _Damn he's good._ Don made two back flips to avoid the incoming weapon. So far he had no opportunities to land a hit on his opponent. The jackaloid never came too near and the sword was long enough to keep him at distance, it didn't help that the creature towered over him and had a wide arm spread.

 _He seems to have experience fighting against martial artist opponent._ The purple-masked one noted. It was very evident that his opponent wasn't really that surprised about the ninja skills.

He could hear a growl coming from the wolf creatures. Suddenly Leo appeared in front of his brother and blocked the incoming sword with his katana. The blue masked turtle took over the battle.

Don noticed that Mikey still fought with the other jackal, but the hyena lay unconscious on the roof. He frowned when seeing that the dark gray 'wolf' was drawing his sword and approached.

The turtle jumped up and managed to dart too one of the deserted swords and grab it. Just then, the dark gray one came and swung his weapon at him, Don blocked it barely. The blade was light despite its shape and size. Still the turtle dearly missed his Bo.

Once again Donatello was facing a very skillful opponent. The turtle had little choice but simply fence, when he tried a kick or a punch the wolf always managed to dart away. He was extremely quick at it too.

 _Right, these guys are very good._ Don eyed the other sword that lay on the ground further away.

The purple-masked turtle jumped over the 'wolf', as the ninja landed on the ground he jumped again. This time his feet touched the pavement near the abandoned weapon. He picked it up and used both to block an incoming blow from the 'wolf'. Don swiftly kicked; aiming to sweep the 'wolf' off his feet, but the dark gray creature jumped. The wolfoid went high enough to give Donatello time to stand up but had to block the sword again.

 _Damn, this one is really good._ Don cringed and wondered why he was getting all the 'luck' in this battle.

* * *

Michelangelo had to admit that he was very impressed by his opponent. He didn't utilize any kind of ninjitsu action. Nevertheless, was skillful enough to duck and dodge, or simply throwing himself away every time the turtle tried to land a hit. Plus the 'jackal' was strong, the turtle could feel that when he blocked a punch.

"Man you guys give a better fight than the damn Foot clan," Mikey grinned as he dodged an incoming fist. He then tried a high kick aiming at the face of the 'jackal' who growled, frustrated that this turtle kept dancing around him kicking and hitting.

"I thought reptiles were supposed to be slow and stupid," he snarled and tried once more to land a hit on Mike. The turtle simply withdrew his head partway down

"Hah, missed me." The turtle stuck his tongue out at the now very angry jackaloid.

"You can still do that Mike?" Don called having not missed this impressive move. He, Leo and Raph could not do that any longer do to their size and bulk.

"Still got it Donny," Mikey called back. In truth, he had never really been able to completely withdraw it. However, often in heat of battle, or sparring, he could kind of mimic the motion and it came out as if his head went down. In truth he was just simply ducking.

He back flipped and managed to land a hard kick that threw his opponent to the ground. This took the wind out of the 'jackal' that now lay motionless on the ground breathing heavily. The turtle saw that the light 'gray' wolf palming his face and shook his head with a heavy sigh. He then glared at Mike who grinned at him and waved mockingly. The wolfoid narrowed his eyes on the turtle and looked like he was thinking.

Michelangelo drew up his nunchakus and went to join Donatello. The purple-masked one was having troubles with his wolfish opponent despite using two swords. The dark grey was an even match with only a single one. However, Mike couldn't reach his brother, the light grey wolfoid came suddenly running with his sword drawn.

"Leo, I think we have to ditch this party," Mike called worried. He didn't like the look of having to face a fresh opponent; it had taken long enough to bring down the jackaloid.

The light grey one swung his sword at such ferocity that even using his 'chakus the turtle was having trouble blocking the shots. He was forced to keep a slight distance, making his weapon rather useless except for blocking and there was no use kicking or punching.

Suddenly Donatello screamed. Mikey glanced towards his brother. The purple-masked one had been cut very deeply on his leg by the dark grey 'wolf' and bled badly. He was now desperately trying to block more swings.

"Leo, Donny has been hurt," he called back to Leo who was still busy fencing with the last standing jackal creature.

* * *

The blue-masked turtle gritted his teeth. He could swear that his scar was burning now. He blocked the sword from the big alien and pushed at it for a moment. He was not going to let this battle end badly; he would not have his brothers risk it. Don was already injured.

"All right guys, first opportunity," their leader ordered with a slight sneer.

His brothers were tiring; both had to face very decent opponents only then to have to face fresh ones again. Don was now injured and it looked like in bad shape. He hardly could stand on the hurt leg. The blood was flowing freely. Leonardo was definitely not going to do the same mistake again, underestimating the enemy.

 _These guys have a stamina and strength. If there had been more of them, they could have overpowered us. We really needed Raph in this fight,_ Leo thought and started to edge himself closer to his brothers, blocking the hits from the jackaloid.

Then the light gray 'wolf' sighed in frustration all of the sudden and stopped in his battle with Mike. He sheathed his sword as he shouted.

"Dqrre, Rakl!"

Leo saw how the jackal creature stopped in mid swing. The alien reluctantly lowered his sword slowly and fastened back to his side. The dark grey wolfoid did the same, just as he had been about to try to land another cut on Don's other leg.

The turtles quickly used the opportunity to regroup, standing now facing the three creatures. Mike supported Donatello who had removed his mask and used it as a temporary bandage on the bleeding leg. It was barely enough.

"All right, you win this round. I wasn't expecting you to be this skilled in combat," the light gray one growled narrowing his eyes on Leonardo. The turtle only stared back with no visible hint of emotion.

 _You didn't look that surprised though,_ the blue clad turtle thought. Then he responded flatly. "You and your… men fight skillfully as well."

"Leave us, we'll talk with you later," he growled.

Leonardo frowned; he could almost see it in the 'wolf's' eyes. He was definitely planning something. However, he couldn't do much about it right now; his brother was bleeding badly and in no condition to resume a battle. Having seen the ferocity and skill in the remaining three beings, he wasn't quite sure if he and Mike could take on them right now.

On top of that he really didn't want to look this gift horse in the mouth. Last time he had fought an off-worldly opponent, he had not escaped this easily. They were pretty much being told to go and do what they wished. Leo was going to take that opportunity.

To his surprise, the dark grey wolfoid gathered up the turtles disguises and threw the bundles of hats and coats to him. The turtles left the rooftop and the creatures went to tend to their fallen comrades. They didn't see the light gray 'wolf' glaring thoughtfully at Mike who was the last one climbing down the fire escape.

"You know we forgot to ask who they were," Mikey mentioned as he and Leo helped Donatello down a manhole. They had already made sure neither the creatures nor any others saw them.

"I know," was the only thing Leonardo said. Michelangelo wondered what was on his brother's mind. He was deep in thought while they supported their limping brother through the tunnels. The orange masked turtle's eye ridge rose when also noticing Leo rubbing his scar gingerly.

 _Yep, definitely something big going in there,_ Mike thought.

* * *

"I wish I had been there," Raph growled hammering his right fist into his left palm. His brothers had returned to the lair, Don sat on the sofa and was Mike stitching his wounded leg. Leo stood in silence in front of the entrance of the dojo; they had finished telling Raph and Splinter about their encounter. The boy was asleep.

"I hope I didn't make a mistake not demanding them to leave first," Leo whispered. Splinter looked at him from his usual chair and smiled.

"Do not let that choice burden you Leonardo. Your brother was injured and you were all tiring. From what you have described from their fighting, you made the right choice. It is obvious that these creatures have their own fighting method and skills that can rival that of a ninja, do not forget that you landed a blow on them as well so they are not unbeatable."

Leo's brow sunk, he was not so convinced. This hadn't felt much like a victory. Without a word, the turtle disappeared into the dojo. Splinter sighed and shook his head, whatever bothered his son it would have to be brought up soon.

"I would have forced them to leave," Raph grunted, eyeing in the direction his brother had disappeared into.

"Raphael, there is no shame in retreat if the enemy is strong. Now you know what you can expect from this enemy and thus arrive stronger for the next battle." The rat now looked at Raph; the red-masked turtle muttered something and shrugged.

"Well I guess it's no choice for me but to watch the boy tomorrow," Don said smiling weakly while Mike finished putting a bandage around his leg. "Just as well, I want to do some tests."

"So Raph, how did it go with the little tyke?" Michelangelo asked while putting away the med-kit.

"He watched the television most of the day," Raphael said with a shrug. Mike glanced up and noticed that Raph seemed to be in thought.

"Something wrong?" he wondered. His brother didn't answer and disappeared into the kitchen.

"Now, don't put too much weight on that leg dude. This cut was deeper than it looked," Mikey warned Don who only nodded.

Although it was Donatello who often had to serve as the doctor, Michelangelo had picked up few skills himself. He often escaped injures from battles and Don needed all the help he could have when patching up Leo or Raph.

"Help me to my room," he begged and his brother helped him rise and supported him to the subway car.

"I think I'll hit the hay too, those guys sure packed a punch," Michelangelo grinned while helping his brother to sit on the bed. Donatello nodded slightly and lay down.

"At least you managed to knock your opponent out, I swear that the jackal I faced was madder than Raph," Donatello mumbled. "I don't think I would have been able to handle him for long without a weapon, fortunately Leo was quick with the hyena."

"Don't feel bad about it Donny. We had no information on how they fought so surprises were given," Mike tried to assure his brother.

"Maybe I can use some light hard material in a new Bo. That way it can't be cut so easily," Donatello muttered.

Mikey didn't comment realizing that his brother was brainstorming and not talking to him. Biding his brother good night, the orange masked turtle left the subway car and headed to his own. The turtle noticed that Splinter had retired to his chamber as well.

* * *

Leo walked stealthily around the dojo. He was tense, senses alert. He moved the katana around preparing to strike at any given moment. The leader made some stabbing movement and one slash before continuing to almost dance slowly around.

 _These creatures fought so strange._ The left katana thrust forward in a stab and the right came in a slash.

 _All three types fought differently, very differently. The jackals pressured on brute strength and ferocity, the wolves used quick movements and agility, the hyena seemed to try to make hidden movements. Almost like he tried to ambush me._ He made a kick up and for a while held his balance on only one foot. Then he stood on two again.

 _And why did he quit the battle, it was like he didn't want to bother to continue. Were we really winning? Were we really that much of a trouble for them?_ Leonardo wasn't satisfied how the battle had ended. The conclusion really bothered him.

 _Was he only testing us? He didn't look that surprised of what we were nor at our gear. More like he was frustrated that we were ready for battle. He had hoped for cooperation, he looked reluctant to send his men against us._ The turtle stood now with arms resting at his sides and his swords touched the ground lightly.

 _They realized our need to hide. They were themselves careful enough not to be spotted. Or was that really the reason?_ He sighed and shook his head.

 _'If you just knew how many of us there really are.'_ Leo gritted his teeth when the intruding growling voice arrived. His right hand dropped the sword and it made a noise when landing on the floor. He began stroking his scar once more.

 _'So many worlds Leo, so many dimensions. Heh, I'm actually keeping an eye on another one. Has another counterpart that is more like me in basic looks.'_ The blue masked turtle shut his eyes tight and tried to think about something else.

 _'I'm just taking a little break. I'll soon strike there.'_ Leonardo sunk to his knees and let go of the other sword. He covered his face with both palms.

 _Leave me alone, leave me alone!_ He thought. _Why do you still intrude my memories and mind? You almost killed me; I was just a damn score for you. A damn training run._

"You know, in the end you are going to have to talk," a voice addressed him. Slowly the turtle let his hands sink down; they were wet from his tears. Leonardo glanced back and saw Raph standing in the doorway.

"I don't want to talk," the blue-clad turtle growled and turned his head forward once more.

"Look Leo, you are not foolin' anybody with this attitude," Raphael said and walked into the dojo. "And those damn hints are getting really tiring. Why don't you tell who attacked you?"

"Because…" Leo began snapping but stopped himself. He sighed and hung his head.

"You wouldn't understand," he whispered.

"Try me." Raph suddenly sat down in front of his brother.

Leonardo stared a bit surprised at his determined brother. Well if Raphael was anything, then it was stubborn. The blue clad turtle contemplated his next action; in reality, he should actually tell Splinter first. Yet he really didn't want to say anything at all. Leo had hoped just to forget the whole thing and move on with his life. However, the recent events stirred his memories.

"Raph I can't," he admitted.

"Why the hell not?" Raphael shouted now really tired of his brother's behavior.

"Because it is too disturbing to talk about!" his brother snapped right back.

"How disturbing can it be?" the red-clad turtle growled, but he actually had a plan. Knowing too well that when he himself got angry the mouth opened often too much, Raphael hoped it would be the same with his brother.

"How disturbing?" Leo was almost shocked to hear that question. He completely forgot that his brother had no idea what happened.

"Disturbing enough to be hunted like an animal by a twisted psycho version of myself!" the blue-masked ninja snarled but froze when realizing what he had just said.

 _Now we are getting' somewhere._ Raph hid a grin and wondered why he hadn't tried this sooner. Leo was palming his face sighing in frustration.

"I'm sorry Raph… I can't talk about it… not now," his brother said and his expression hardened.

"You are being as stubborn as I am," the red-clad turtle grunted but saw that this was maybe all he would get tonight. He did understand Leonardo though; there were times he just didn't feel like sharing his troubles. Raph hated it when his brothers or Splinter pressed on him to talk.

Leo didn't answer; he simply rose up and gathered his swords. Then before Raphael had a chance to stop him, the blue-clad one left the dojo. Raph sunk back down to the floor. He had been standing up himself but his brother had been too quick to leave.

 _Damn, well at least I tried,_ the red-clad one thought and rose up. The turtle went to the punching bag; he needed to work out some of the frustration before heading to the couch to sleep

 **End chapter 4**

* * *

 **A/N:** No translation provided because what the light grey guy called were names, not words


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 06/11 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

 _I'm going to kill that kid,_ Donatello thought as the gray flash darted out of yet another hiding place and somewhere further into the lair.

Using his spare Bo staff the turtle heaved himself up and began yet again to search for their houseguest. The child was playing hide and seek whether Don wanted it or not.

Don glanced down at his leg that was wrapped in bandage; he had almost lost the leg yesterday. The sword could have easily cut it off if he hadn't just managed to jerk the leg away. Now instead he would sport a wonderful long scar there.

He sighed; he had hoped to run a few tests. Make sure the child was healthy and see if the physiology was that different from other humanoids life forms he knew, that is mutant turtles and humans.

That's why he had tried wake up the boy early, hoping he would be a bit sleepy and thus calmer. The turtle really didn't want to scare him. Donatello was surprised to learn that as soon as the kid's eyes opened, he smiled mischievously and promptly darted out of the bed.

Don was now forced to limp around the lair, using his own weapon as a crutch and try to find the very playful kid.

"Braka," Donatello called, he heard a distant giggle. The turtle gritted his teeth when accidentally putting too much weight on the injured leg.

"You damn better hope…what am I saying, he doesn't even understand me," he grunted and continued to walk around the subway station hoping to find the boy soon.

"Ok kid, I'm really in no shape to be playing." Don limped towards the couch and peeked under it.

Surprisingly enough the child fit under there. In fact the boy had sometimes managed to fit himself into much tighter spots without getting stuck. Raph had mentioned it that the space between the dumpster and the wall had been rather tight. He had been a bit surprised he had managed crawl into it.

There was a mad giggle; Don had found his latest hiding place. The turtle reached under the couch hoping to grab his tail. However, Braka was quick despite limited movements under there. He was out from under the furniture and darted into the dojo before Don's hand was even close.

"Get back here!" the purple masked turtle shouted and groaned as he rose back up. Donatello stalked the best he could to the training room. The kid was really testing his patience and he prided himself of having a lot of it.

"Ok, this ends now." The ninja walked into the dojo and spotted immediately where the kid was trying to hide under one of the training mats. The turtle chuckled. "Come on, that's not even challenging."

He walked to the mat and lifted up preparing to grab Braka. His face fell when seeing the pillows under the mat. Then there were more giggles, the boy came from behind the weapons rack and ran out of the dojo.

 _That sneaky little… oooh no jury on earth will convict me._ Donatello dropped the mat and ran as fast as his injured leg allowed out of the dojo. He glared around but could only hear the faint giggles from the kid.

"Are you having some trouble, Donatello?" Splinter asked. He had been watching from the entrance to his chamber. There was an amused expression on the rat's face.

"No, no, not at all," the turtle grunted when spotting his father, wondering how long he had been watching.

"I often had to be quick to catch you and your brothers when you were young. But once I did sprain my ankle, thus I often had to resort to other methods," his sensei told him. "I remember how I sometimes had to lure you all with small treats just to be able to give you a bath."

Donatello tilted his head as he thought about what Splinter just told him. Realizing that the tireless kid would just continue to dart back and forth between places, he saw what his father meant.

"Time for the heavy artillery then." Don nodded. Splinter said nothing, just smiled as he made his way to the recliner.

The turtle limped into the kitchen. He could hear the giggles stop. The boy knew what the kitchen was now and that nobody went in there except to get food. The child had also been quick to realize that sometimes a good treat could come out of it as well.

Donatello began searching in one cupboard and found what he was looking for, a big jar full of cookies. Mikey had already confirmed that the kid loved them. The purple clad ninja wasn't surprised that a small wolf pup like head suddenly peeked into the kitchen, trying not to be seen.

"So you have decided to emerge," Don said casually while picking out three cookies from the jar and putting them on a plate.

Braka knew there was only one way to get one of those. He came into the kitchen and walked straight to Donatello. The turtle smiled and handed him one cookie from the plate.

"So are you going to be a good boy?" Don asked even though he knew the kid didn't understand him. He did feel slightly guilty to have to resort to bribery.

The boy just stared at him while munching on the cookie. Then he pointed at the turtle with a big smile.

"Roha," he said. Donatello frowned wondering what he meant. Mikey and Raph had already given him a list of what the boy sometimes said. This was though a new word.

"No, Donny." The turtle pointed at himself thinking at first that the kid was calling him a wrong name. He was mildly surprised when Braka hugged him.

"Roha Doonnee," he said.

 _Wait a minute he said it like a title._ Don caressed gently the fur on the boy's head.

"Ok kid, I want to make sure you are healthy, so let's go to the lab," he told Braka.

"Roha Doonnee, cookie?" the boy stood up straight and pointed at the plate. Donatello picked it up and began walking towards the entrance. He motioned the boy to follow him.

 _I wonder if roha means uncle?_ Don mused as he limped into the lab closely followed by the kid, but he shrugged it off while motioning Braka to sit down in a chair.

"Ok I just want to make sure you are ok and want to run few harmless tests in the process," Don said while handing the boy the second cookie. He began preparing the equipment needed for the job.

* * *

"Damn, we've been at this for hours," Raphael growled and kicked a can.

"We have traced the possible ways for them to have gone in; they can't be seen just like us so they can't be waltzing around in public." Leo frowned; they were in an abandoned warehouse section. Bit of a distance from where he, Mike and Don had fought the aliens.

"And they aren't here," the red masked turtle snorted glaring around. Mike was examining some junk nearby.

"Don has suggested that they have means to open a new portal back to their world, so it wouldn't be farfetched to think that they went back. But will come back later." Leonardo sighed and stared into the distance. So far, the only ones they had seen were some homeless people. The turtles usually had no problems with them; these people ignored them since the ninjas didn't bother them in turn.

Raph glanced into his brother's direction. Last night's brief conversation was still on his mind, but Leo almost seemed recovered from his funk. So far, all morning he had pretty much acted normal. The red clad turtle wondered if it had actually helped a bit to push at his brother as he had done.

Leonardo had only touched his scar once and that was only because it went down close to his chin, so when he was rubbing the chin thoughtfully the fingers touched it slightly.

 _I guess this case is distracting him a bit,_ Raphael thought.

"Raph, you are familiar with this area right?" Leo addressed him. The red-clad turtle shrugged and walked closer to his brother. He did in fact come here from time to time for his own reasons. Mostly to cool off and it was pretty secluded.

* * *

 _Ooh cool._ Mike crouched down near a pile of some trash and found an empty bottle. It was made of glass and seemed carefully crafted. The orange masked one himself didn't care much for alcohol, but he always found some bottles interesting enough to collect them.

Suddenly the young turtle looked up and frowned. He glanced over his shoulder; Raph and Leo were talking nearby and apparently deciding what to do next. Mikey scratched his head; he could have sworn somebody was watching. The ninja rose up and put the empty bottle in the pocket of his coach.

 _Weird,_ he looked down at the trash and poked at it with his toes.

"Mikey! Stop foolin' around we are goin'," Raph called.

"Coming," the orange-clad one answered and followed his two brothers who were already heading away from this section of the city.

* * *

Donatello put the small vial in a stand and took a deep breath. He carefully turned his chair to face Braka. The boy sat beside him and still munched on the second cookie the turtle had given him.

 _I really shouldn't be doing this, but I just must try and determine what you are._ Don started to prepare equipment used usually in hospitals to get blood samples from patients. _Have to remember to thank April for buying this for me._

He looked at the cub that was looking curiously around the lab. Gently Donny took the arm not holding the cookie. He applied slight pressure on it to find a vein under the skin and fur. The turtle dreaded to think that he was maybe scaring the cub and was ready to quit at first hint of struggle.

Braka on the other hand didn't seem all too alarmed about what was happening. Either her knew what was going on and wasn't afraid of needles, or simply the cookie bribe had worked. Although Donatello figured it was the former. He hadn't actually been able to tell the boy that the cookie had been a bribe.

He found a suitable spot on the tiny arm and injected the needle. The boy winched and gave a slight yelp but didn't try to break free. Donatello was quickly done as he only needed one vial of blood and didn't even fill it up. The needle went out and he put pressure on the small wound. The turtle grabbed the last cookie from the plate and handed it to the boy. He accepted it grinning mischievously. Yes, he definitely knew what was going on to a point.

"Well no more needles," Don said and put the needle in a box and put the other equipment away, intending to wash it later. He looked at the vial containing the boy's blood. "Sure doesn't look any different than mine does it? Not at least when using only the naked eye."

Braka kept munching on the cookie and eyed around. He had become much calmer and curious compared to when he first arrived. He was also starting to become playful, as Donatello had found out with the sudden game of hide and seek earlier.

"Let's see, I can't feel that you have any fever." Don took up a mouth thermometer and held it up so the wolf could see. "So I could probably take your temperature and get average body heat for your species."

Waiting until the boy had finished the goodies, he put the thermometer in his mouth. Don chuckled when seeing the bored expression coming on the boy. Braka knew precisely what that was and didn't seem to like it all too much. He kept still though.

"Let's see now, well human temperature, 37°C. Or about 99 F," Don read from the meter and then started to shake it and put it away. He wrote down the information. "Ok let's check out the blood sample now."

It took few hours and the boy had long since left and was now watching the TV with Splinter. Don had at least figured one important thing about their guest.

 _That is no wolf. I doubt there is a single canine gene in him. I can't check that out though without some more specialized equipment._ Don looked at the opening of the room scratching his head. _But then why does he look like one._

"I think I'm raising more questions than actually answering them." Donatello rubbed his hands smiling gleefully. "Damn I love science."

"Ok let's see." He stood up and used the Bo as a walking stick. He walked to a pile of books and stared to search through them. He picked specifically up books about evolution and changes in animals.

"Hm, animals can look like each other but be of different species. It's sometimes camouflage to bluff predators or their habitat is just so similar." He started to pace around still holding one book reading quickly the information found there. Then he threw it back to the table but kept walking. Though limping would have been proper word. He soon found out that his leg still wasn't good enough for that. He scrambled quickly to the chair once the pain became unbearable.

"This is very strange. I have confirmed it that he isn't a mutant although the encounter with the others probably should have done that. This is obviously an intelligent species with some advanced technology if they can go between dimensions. Their choice of weaponry is primitive though… but I'm not complaining about that." Don glared at his patched wound. He knew that his wound could have been much more severe if they had used long-range type weapons.

"I… hm… I don't think they can be called 'animals' like a human would put it. I am a mutant animal, a walking talking turtle who happened to swim in some mutagen when just few weeks old. It's almost a coincidence that I am here." He looked in the direction the turtle figured the boy was in, he couldn't see the TV from the lab. "What's your excuse?"

"They didn't fold their ears when angry. When the wolfish guy was sneering he showed much more of a human angry expression than that of a wolf. His tail didn't twitch, it only moved because of the breeze on the rooftop. They didn't make any sounds similar to the animals they look like. Most of the sounds were like from humans. But their strength, damn that wolf was much stronger than he looked like." Donatello remembered to well his fencing with the dark gray wolfoid. He had been taken by much surprise to learn how strong he was despite the thin looking built.

"Come to think of it, when Raph brought the kid here, he was scared and confused. He too didn't move an ear or a tail. His expression was very similar to that of a human." The turtle stood up again and limped to the entrance. "But how can he when the muzzle is there?"

Braka sat in the sofa staring almost hypnotized at the cartoon that was going on. Don was relieved that the boy was this adaptable. The kid didn't seem to mind that he did not understand a thing being said. The boy reached up and started to scratch his muzzle. Donatello's eyes opened wide in surprise. It bent ever so slightly, not much but enough for him to see the possible reason for the easy facial expressions.

 _There isn't a bone there? Is it only muscles… no then it would hang … but wait sharks and rays have flexible bones called cartilage, maybe it's similar._ Don walked closer to the sofa not taking his eyes of the cub. "Who are you?"

He turned around when heard the cover to the entrance was moved. Then down the ladder climbed April O'Neil, their human friend, holding both a bag and a purse.

"Hi Donny, the guys dropped by my apartment and told me you and Splinter were alone here with an unexpected guest," she said while going down and dusted off her hands.

"That's right." Don gestured to where Braka sat. The woman put the bag and her purse down before walking to the couch. Splinter appeared in the kitchen entrance, having been making some tea. He greeted April and returned to his recliner.

"Oh he's so cute," she said smiling wide at the boy. "Is he a mutant like you guys?"

"No, I have just determined that this is a whole new species," Donatello explained and then he pointed at his wounded leg. "And yesterday we encountered some of his kind."

"Yeah, Leo did mention you had a brawl." April sat down right next to the cub who now looked at the woman curiously.

"Arkalandan," he said pointing at April, she raised an eyebrow and looked at Splinter who had raised his brow as well, then Don who shrugged.

"He speaks his own language. So far, only Mikey has figured out that his name is Braka. Raph claims he is already starting to pick up some words, but the context is probably not there yet," the turtle explained. "And he can mostly say our names. Mikey figured out the best way to introduce our selves when the language barrier is in the way. Point and say the right word."

"Gee, and I thought you were the brain here," the woman teased, Don grinned.

"Well you know Mike and kids. He loves them and of the four of us, he interacts the best around them. Raph seems to be softening up as well. He voluntarily looked after him yesterday when Leo, Mike and I went looking around for some clues. And well, he's been taking great care of the kid"

"Raph? Well do wonders never cease?" April laughed, so did the turtle and the boy though the cub had no idea what was so funny. Splinder chuckled slightly.

"The reason one of us is staying behind, is that we believe it's not just the parents that are looking for him, but someone else too. Somebody who probably would hurt him, we met the 'someone' yesterday," Donatello glared at his leg.

"Indeed, his sudden appearance and then the appearance of those others seems to indicate that," Splinter agreed.

"Now who would want to hurt such a cute kid?" the woman wondered caressing Braka on the head. The cub looked at woman again curiously but then resumed watching the TV.

Before Donatello could answer his brothers climbed down into the Subway station, they started to remove their disguises while walking towards the main living area.

"Any…" he stopped when Leo shook his head, he looked a tad bit annoyed. Mike grinned and Raph looked extra surlier than usual.

"Hey April," Mikey said when seeing the woman. "You came."

"Yeah, couldn't miss the opportunity to see the latest person you rescued," the woman said innocently. Michelangelo was about to say something but then an idea hit him.

"Hey guys how about I go and get us some pizza, been ages," he said and put on the coat again. Raph didn't answer and left for the kitchen. Leo didn't seem so convinced about the idea and frowned heavily.

"Well, I don't think we should be up there alone while these creatures are on the run," he said and began stroking his scar.

"Aw come on bro, I'll go to Denny's, it's the closest to us." Mike put on the hat again smiling wide as ever. "I won't be long."

"All right, but don't go far and… I can't believe I'm about to say this but try to stick where people are. They seemed just as reluctant to be revealed as we are," Leo said. He still didn't look very convinced about the idea. April stood up and reached for her purse on the floor.

"Here take this, I'm in a mood for something extra cheesy," she said handing Mike some money. Michelangelo made an army salute grinning and climbed out of the lair.

Leo disappeared into the dojo but reemerged after few minutes with hard expression. Don and April stared at him a little surprised; it was almost as if something had happened. Splinter frowned in wonder.

"What am I thinking, letting him go alone," the turtle could be heard mutter and walked to where the coats hung.

"Goin' out again?" Raph appeared in the kitchen entrance drinking soda from a can.

"Mike went out to buy a pizza. I'm going with him," Leonardo said while dressing in the coat and putting on the hat. He almost looked frightened now.

"Wait up." Raphael as well returned to the disguise and the brothers were out again leaving April, Don and Splinter alone.

"Are we that boring?" April joked while sitting down.

"Maybe they don't trust Mikey about the pizza toppings." Don grinned. Deep down the turtle was wondering. Leo had looked terrified as he was climbing up the ladder. Like some bad memory had come up just suddenly.

"Leonardo was looking worried," Splinter mentioned almost voicing what the purple clad one had been thinking. Donatello only hummed in agreement.

April couldn't resist and started to caress the boy on the head again. Braka did seem to enjoy this attention and soon the woman found herself holding the boy in her lap.

"You are so cute, I almost want to adopt you," she teased and tickled the cub who giggled madly.

* * *

"I thought you said he was goin' to Denny's?" Raph growled when he and Leo walked out of the pizza parlor. His brother nodded looking as if had seen a ghost.

"That's what he said," Leo whispered and clenched his teeth. Then snapped his fingers and his expression relaxed a little. "Ah! There are two Dennys. He went to the other one, down the 5th street."

"Wonderful," Raph grumbled.

 _Oh please, oh please be all right,_ Leonardo thought as they made their way to the correct location.

Mike had been very quick to disappear out of the sewers. However, all of them knew the various short cuts to get out quickly. Thus the orange masked one could have picked several. The other turtles had decided to meet up with their brother at the pizza place instead.

"Come, we can probably just grab him before he goes out." The blue-masked turtle adjusted his walking pace. It took them half an hour but finally found the other pizza place, but there was not a trace of Mike.

"He must have bought pre-prepared ones," Raphael grunted not noticing the very worried face of his brother. Leo hesitantly nodded in agreement and they walked out.

"Come on, he's probably home by now." Raph shook his head and they ducked into a nearby street that had less people. Leonardo hoped his brother was right.

The red-masked ninja stood guard while his brother reached for the manhole cover. He jumped down the dark hole once it was open. The blue-clad one was about to climb after him when the turtle thought he smelled something.

"It's upwind, it can't be coming from the pizza place." The ninja looked around. He bit his lips while contemplating what to do.

"Ya comin'?" Raph called from the bottom.

"Just a minute… Wait down there. I'm checking something." Leo covered the manhole while hearing his brother grunt. The ninja followed the scent and it led him into another alley. In there, close to a dumpster, he saw three discarded pizza boxes.

"Ah ok." The turtle for the first time since going out smiled and shook his head. "I must be hungry for pizza myself."

He turned and was about to return to the manhole when the feeling of dread came over him. Leo faced the dumpster and the boxes again. They were scattered but closed and didn't look like having been there for long.

 _No… no… don't let your imagination get a hold of you Leonardo. The chances are slim. You know that._ Leonardo walked to the nearest box and frowned when seeing little or no dirt on the cardboard it was made of.

The ninja crouched down and with a moment's hesitation reached out and opened the box slowly. His eyes widened in surprise when seeing the untouched and still warm pizza. Worried the turtle went to the other boxes and discovered the same; uneaten pizza was in them too. His face paled as he realized what might have happened.

 _No, no please don't tell me…_ Leo stood up and looked around.

There was no sign of battle. Mike was maybe a goof but he was no amateur and knew how to fight. A thin piece of clothing hanging on a fence that closed off another part of the alley caught his attention. Leonardo froze, in the little light there was he could clearly see the two holes, it was a mask.

He ran to it and gasped when seeing the orange color. It was a message to clear for the turtle. They had him, his brother. Shaking Leo reached for the mask and pulled it down. His green face became pale when seeing the spots of blood on it.

 _No… no why did I let him go alone. Didn't you learn anything you stupid idiot when this black clad turtle attacked you? Now they got Mikey._ He clenched his teeth and his hands were trembling.

Slowly the ninja turned, breathing was difficult as he thought what could have happened. Each step out was hard. He wanted to go and search right away but knew he had to return first to the lair. His foot struck something and heard a clang of metal.

 _No._ Leo looked at the ground and just barely made out a pair of nunchakus. Mike had fought after all, but his weapons lay useless on the alley floor. _Mike… no not Mikey. Leo you idiot, you practically handed him over to them._

Leonardo gathered up the weapons and slowly returned to the manhole. He didn't want to return but the ninja had to make sure the lair was alright. The turtle could only hope that his brother was fine, but one look at the bloodstained mask clutched in his hand made that hope small.

"'bout time," Raph snorted when Leo came down. He frowned when seeing how shaken turtle looked. The red-masked one then noticed his brother was holding something.

"Hey what's wrong?" Raphael put one hand on Leo's shoulder. His brother didn't say a word only handed him one of Mike's nunchakus.

"What the, that looks like…" Raph got silent.

There was some small light source coming from above down a nearby drain. Thus he could see the orange mask and the other nunchaku Leo held in his shaking hands. Raphael's face darkened, growling he prepared to return to the surface but Leo stopped him.

"Wait," his voice was in whisper. "We must go and see if the lair is alright."

Raph was just about to argue about that but came to his senses. He had to admit he agreed with Leo this time. Beside they would probably need Don as well.

* * *

 **End Chapter 5**

 **A/N:** **Roha:** A bit like Uncle so yes Don was on the right track there, holds though a bit more meaning. A family friend would not be called Roha, if a child calls somebody a Roha, that child pretty much consider the person part of his or hers family. The female form, that is the word close to "Aunt" is Rôhâ. Prononuced with a different sounding "o" and "a".

 **Arkalandan:** The female word for human, used for human women. Incorrect to use it for men.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 29/11 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

They returned to the lair. Leo half hoped that Mike was actually there. Maybe the mask had only been torn off and he lost his weapons but escaped the battle. They reached the entrance and could hear the sound of TV and voices talking. Leonardo's hopes peeked. Maybe they were tending to their brother's injuries right now.

His hopes went straight down the drain climbing down and only saw Don, April and Braka sitting in the couch. Splinter still sat in his recliner. All eyes were on the newly arrived turtles. The boy had perked up when seeing Raphael, but didn't move when seeing how angry the red-masked one looked.

"Hey guys where is…" Don halted when seeing the faces of his brothers. He then noticed the mask and the nunchakus. The turtle froze in shock.

"What happened, speak my sons." Splinter had as well noticed.

"W-we don't know," Leo whispered and fell to his knees. "I found this... in an alley."

"The bastards took Mikey," Raphael snarled and clenched his fists. He had put the nunchaku on his belt and it wasn't leaving there until it was back in Michelangelo's hands.

"I shouldn't have let him go alone," Leo said from the floor. "I should have known…"

"Leonardo!" The sharp voice of his sensei brought his face back up. The rat was motioning the ninja to come. Shaking the turtle stood up, walked to Splinter and knelt in front of him.

"Master Splinter… I'm sorry… I should have been more careful… I should have known…" the blue-masked turtle whispered with his eyes closed tight. A hand was gently laid on his crown.

"Do not blame yourself my son for none can tell the future. Your brother needs you now to help him. We are dealing with a cunning enemy," Splinter told him gently. He then said more softly. "Please hand me your brother's mask and weapon."

Still shaking Leo obeyed and soon both items lay on the rat's lap. Splinter sighed and felt his heart ache when seeing the blood on the mask. It wasn't much, but it was obvious his son had suffered injuries. Outwardly, he didn't show much, only examined the items.

"Sensei… I'm sorry." The blue-clad one glanced up, his eyes were open and the tears were streaming down from under his mask. "I should have talked… I should have let you know."

"What do you mean my son?" Splinter frowned a little, but realized then that his son was not speaking of what had happened to Michelangelo.

"That time… when I… when I came home injured and what caused me to have this scar," Leo's hand went for the scar on his cheek.

"I was… was attacked by an off-world enemy… he was from another world, just like the child and these creatures that kidnapped Mikey. I don't know, it's possible they come from the same place… he attacked me… hunted me like an animal, played with my mind… he then viciously attacked me and I was lucky to escape…" Leonardo's eyes closed again and his head sunk.

Splinter sighed and placed his hand on his distressed son's shoulder. It was apparent that the recent events were bringing up bad memories for the blue-masked one. First now, when it had so seriously affected them, had everything finally broken. The old ninja master was though relieved that his son was finally confessing this.

"My son, chances are these two events are unrelated. As much as I wish to hear your story in more detail right now, we are forced to wait until later. Your brother needs you more urgently." Splinter told him gently.

"Yes… yes sensei," the blue-clad turtle whispered, feeling suddenly a big load lift off his shoulders.

The elder nodded and now glanced at Raphael. His red masked son seemed ready to rip anybody apart who stood in his way. He looked slightly surprised though at Leo's sudden confession but not by much, almost like he had heard part of it.

Donatello was though very surprised but didn't say anything. Braka was looking a bit lost and confused, not understanding really what was going on, but April had him in her arms and gave him a comforting hug so the child remained silent. However, woman looked just as surprised as Don.

"Raphael," the rat addressed the red masked turtle.

"I am returning this to my brother," the turtle said flatly pointing at the nunchaku on his belt. It was right next to one of his sai. Splinter nodded, seeing the determination in his son's eyes.

"Go then and look for him, but be careful, Donatello, if you feel you are well enough you can go and aid your brothers."

* * *

 _Man what a major headache,_ Mikey felt the world spinning around him.

Slowly he opened his eyes but was so dizzy he couldn't make much out of his surroundings at first. Then the turtle felt he was tied to a chair with chains and remembered what happened.

* * *

 _He decided to be quick and took a shortcut the turtle knew of almost immediately after leaving the lair. He arrived at Denny's, bought three already prepared pizzas and headed back home. Mike arrived in an alley looking for a manhole, when suddenly the light-gray wolf creature appeared in front of him._

 _"Well, we meet again," the light-gray said smiling. Michelangelo detected mock in the voice._

 _'Damn, must not make it look like I was looking for a manhole. Can't let him know where we live,' Mikey thought while staring at the 'wolf' who smirked._

 _"So what are you doing alone, away from your friends?" he asked but answered before Mike even thought about opening his mouth. "Buying food I see."_

 _"Eh, what do you want dude." Mike looked around, but he couldn't see anybody except for the 'wolf'._

 _"The child I know you and your friends are harboring," the light gray snorted. Mikey made the mistake to freeze, confirming that the wolfoid was right. The turtle threw the pizzas away and from under his coat grabbed his nunchakus._

 _"Sorry dude, no dice." Mike grinned and was not surprised that the 'wolf' snarled._

 _"You have a big mouth reptile, I noticed that," the light gray hissed. "But I'm afraid I don't have time to let you do this flip fighting of yours."_

 _Mike was taken by surprise when many more creatures suddenly came jumping down from the rooftops. There were wolfoids, jackaloids, hyenaoids and many others. Michelangelo was surrounded._

 _"Oh so you called for backup I see." Mikey grinned and started to spin his weapons._

 _He attacked hoping to gain enough ground to jump and dart off. However, the creatures swarmed him, he was quick to kick and hit but not quick enough. A sword cut him in his cheek and another gave him a wound on the arm and leg._

 _Somebody punched his plastron so hard that all wind was knocked out of him. Sheering pain in his hands forced him to drop the 'chakus. Now he only had his fists and legs but he was overwhelmed and soon lay unconscious on the alley floor._

* * *

Now that he was awake and mildly disoriented, the turtle started to make a note of his surroundings. The room was dark but enough light came from the outside that Mike recognized this as an empty warehouse.

 _I smell salt water, we must be near the ocean… damn I'm far from the lair,_ Mike thought.

He looked down but it was too dark for him to see himself properly, could only make out his tied up shape. His arms and legs hurt, there was also stinging pain in his cheek.

"Ah you are awake," a familiar voice addressed him. Mikey looked around but couldn't see anybody.

"We patched up your wounds so you wouldn't bleed out on us. I think you would be more valuable alive anyway," said the voice, there was snickering all around. The turtle could just make out what looked like animalistic shapes all around.

"Of course we could all make this very easy and without trouble. Just tell us where we can pick up the boy and we'll set you free," the voice offered.

"Um no offense dude but not even I am that stupid. First, you attack my bros and me, then ambush me and tie me up. That's just a major tip off for me not to trust you to even come near the kid," Mike remarked, he could hear a heavy sigh.

Michelangelo heard some rustling and suddenly a tall lamp shone right above his head. Its light focused mostly on the turtle so he couldn't see clearly further than a meter or two. The light gray 'wolf' stepped forward with a grim expression. Beside him was the dark gray one who had injured Don.

"I guessed that you would refuse my offer," he grunted and shrugged. "But I like to try, never know if I get lucky."

"What are you?" Mike accidentally thought aloud, he clammed his mouth shut when realizing that. The 'wolf' smirked, there were more snickering around.

"Ah yes of course, my species is probably very alien for you. I'm a rymska and so is the boy that you and your friends have," the light gray explained casually. He then leaned forward slightly. "I know what you are thinking. You think I look like a wolf. But you can trust me on this; I am not, not even related to them."

 _Rymska? Funny name,_ Mikey thought this time so nobody could hear.

"I guess you are dying to know what is going on." The rymska noticed the silence from the turtle while he was thinking.

"Huh what? Oh yeah, the master plan, you must tell the master plan. It's in the villains' handbook." Mike grinned but kept down the laughter. He wasn't really surprised to see the confused face come on the light gray.

"Master plan? I'm afraid there is no master plan, no in this case it's simply." The rymska halted and then smiled. "Business."

"Business? What does a kid have to do with your business?" Mike asked confused. The rymska laughed, it was a strange laugh and made with no visible effort. He just opened the mouth and the laughter came out.

"In most cases they don't. I usually don't deal with anything that involves children. But I sometimes must make some exceptions, especially to ensure silence," the last word came hissing out, but the rymska still didn't drop the smile. Mike frowned unsure.

"Silence… of what?" he asked hesitantly.

"Can't you guess? Well it's no secret. The boy's father used to work for me, but he bolted out and threatened to give some sensitive information. I had his wife and child, kidnapped and gave him the usual note: 'You shut up if you want to see your family ever again'. Now this only works if the child is within my grasp, because the father can enlist aid from people that can search through other dimensions with more efficiency. So you see; I want that child, now!" The rymska walked closer growling.

Mike couldn't think of anything to say. He realized that now more than ever, his lips had to be sealed tighter. The turtle didn't notice that the dark gray rymska was frowning, staring at him suspiciously.

"We did think about following you by scent, but then you and your friends used the sewer much too our surprise. No doubt to ensure that nobody followed you. The scent was too well masked there, even for a rymska," the wolfoid continued. Mikey smiled on the inside. If his captor only knew that they actually lived down there.

"But enough talking." The rymska now narrowed his eyes on the turtle. "You can still escape from suffering. Tell us where you keep the boy."

"Nah I don't think so." Mikey grinned. "Give it your best shot."

There were no more words wasted. The rymska snapped his fingers and a very gangly looking jackal creature walked into the light. Unlike the other two Mike remembered; this one had more of a regular brown fur than golden-brown.

"This is Fhui, I'll let you…" The rymska stopped when the dark gray one stopped the jackaloid to come any closer.

"Something wrong, Dqrre?" the light gray one addressed him, the other rymska was narrowing his eyes on Mikey.

"Akre," Dqrre's, the dark gray rymska, voice was deeper and even more commanding than the light gray one's. "Exactly how old do you figure he is?"

Akre, the identity of the light gray one, raised an eyebrow and looked at the turtle. Now his nose vibrated for a moment, his brow sunk in slight confusion but then he looked surprised.

"I… I can't really tell, his scent is very confusing," the rymska stated and now folded his arms, regarding the ninja more carefully. "I would have guessed 24 or something like that."

 _Whoa and Raph always says I act like I'm five._ Mikey grinned even wider on the inside.

"How old are you?" Dqrre asked him suddenly. The turtle blinked at the question, then eyed Akre who also waited for an answer.

"Um… though my brothers sometimes say I act like I'm five and I'm flattered you think I'm 24, I'm 18," the ninja answered and tried to shrug, but his restrains prevented him. He was surprised to see the shocked expression arrive on Akre. Dqrre growled a little but nodded.

"He's not lying," the dark gray rymska stated and pushed Fhui out of the light. Apparently his service was no longer required.

"Thank you brother… you just prevented me from making a very grave mistake," Akre said and actually looked both embarrassed and a bit ashamed.

"That's what I'm here for," Dqrre growled but smirked a little.

"Uuh, I'm kind of out of the loop here." Mikey was utterly confused.

"Simple, we don't torture kids," the dark gray one told him with a snort. Akre unfolded his arms and placed them behind his back.

"Yes, I made the mistaken assumption that you were older. My businesses may not be exactly on the legal side, but I'll not sink so low to be torturing kids," the light-gray one added.

 _Well being 18 technically speaking makes me an adult, but I'm not complaining._ Mikey wisely kept that thought to himself.

The two rymskas began speaking to each other, talking in an alien language. The turtle wasn't terribly surprised to hear familiar words, same words Braka had sometimes used, since the boy was of the same species.

Suddenly the jackaloid Mikey had fought on the rooftop appeared in the light. He addressed Akre and the two rymskas stopped speaking. The golden-brown furred creature said something to them and both wolfoids frowned heavily. Akre nodded and the jackal creature left, but not before eyeing Michelangelo curiously.

"Tell me boy." Akre stepped closer to the turtle and regarded him carefully. "Do you have a brother named Leonardo?"

 _Huh, how the… how did he know?_ Mike couldn't hide his surprise. The rymska spotted the recognition.

"Is he an assassin and a bounty hunter?" Akre then asked, but now his prisoner frowned in confusion.

"Uh, no, well he's a ninja like me. But no not a bounty hunter at least we don't do bounty hunting as far as I know," Michelangelo said wondering what the heck was going on.

"Well this is a wrinkle I wasn't expecting," the rymska muttered and rubbed his muzzle thoughtfully.

"You are a mutant turtle correct?" Dqrre asked; since Mike couldn't shrug he nodded.

"We are actually in an alternative reality; I guess I shouldn't be that surprised. You never know when you dimension travel." Akre shook his head.

"You are not going to let me go are you?" the turtle asked, since he really had no idea what they were talking about.

"That depends, will lead us to where the boy is?" the light gray rymska asked with a slight smirk. Akre shook his head and chuckled when Mikey didn't answer.

"I'll let you think about it for a moment," he said and walked out of view. Dqrre was about to follow him but stopped and glanced at the ninja.

"Your friend or brother, the one with the purple-mask, was he 18 as well?" he asked.

"Yeah," Mikey shrugged.

"Hgja! Ka'ha, ahgha saht!" Dqrre growled and walked out view, leaving the ninja wondering what on earth he had said. The rymska had seemed frustrated at himself.

* * *

April woke up with a start. She had fallen asleep on the couch in the turtle's lair. The woman had taken care of Braka for the rest of the day and put him to bed in Raphael's room. She had then watched the television, hoping to be awake when any news came from her friends. Splinter still sat in the recliner, Mike's mask and nunchaku still lay in his lap.

"I allowed you to sleep, my child. I thank you for your assistance to take care of our young guest," the rat said nodding to the woman who smiled.

"Oh that's quite welcome." She rose up in the couch and stretched. "I just hope Michelangelo is alright."

"He has a young and strong spirit," was the only reply from Splinter. April knew the old rat and knew he was hiding his grief very well. She nodded and stood up intending to turn off the television. Just as the woman did, two turtles climbed down into the lair, one was limping and the other supported him.

"Where is Raph?" April froze when seeing only Leo and Don.

"He refused to come back for a rest and I am going back to search too. Donny can't continue because of the leg," Leonardo stated flatly and helped his brother to sit down on the couch. The purple-masked one was grimacing in pain.

"The sword must have cut me deeper than I thought," Donatello smiled weakly. "I only came back because the pain became just too unbearable. The leg was starting to betray me."

"Leonardo," Splinter addressed his son who was on the way out. He could now see yet again the hardened face his son had carried for so long.

"Do not forget to rest. You are of little help to your brother if you are too tired to focus," he advised the turtle, the blue-clad one looked more than ready to overwork himself in the search.

"I will sensei," Leo said and left the lair.

"Leo still blames himself for this," Donatello explained and winched when April touched the bandage. She was making sure the stitched hadn't gotten lose and the wound reopened.

"Who are these people you are dealing with now?" April asked. Don shook his head with a heavy sigh.

"We don't know April. Just that they are not from this world, they seem to come from another dimension. Leo, Mike and I fought some of them and well we sort of won, but it wasn't easy. Leo and Mike managed to knock out their first opponents but I didn't even manage to scratch mine," the turtle explained.

The woman stood up and went to get the med-kit. She also took a detour to the kitchen and was relieved to find some ice cubes inside the freezer. April gathered cubes in a plastic bag and walked back to the living room.

Don had his sore leg now resting on a footrest. April put the ice bag and pressed it gently on the leg where it was the warmest, close to the wound.

"Aahh, I needed that." Donatello was relieved to have some chill on his inferno hot leg. He grabbed the med kit, pulled out some painkillers and swallowed them. April hurried back to the kitchen and brought back a glass of water, the turtle accepted it gratefully.

"We searched as far as we could from the alley Mikey was abducted from. Raph didn't speak a word, only searched. Leo was very much the same. He talked a bit though, still said he should have been with Mike and having him wait. He is taking this really bad. Now that we kind of know what happened to Leo, I'm not that surprised. I had to limp after them. I was just as determined to find my brother but like it's said, 'the spirit was willing but the body was weak'." Don sighed heavily. April noticed he was fighting back the tears. She took his right hand to comfort him.

"It's just so unreal, I mean… I could have imagined this happening to Raph, rash as he is sometimes. But Mikey? It's just so…"

"There, there it will all right," the woman said gently.

"Maybe I'm overreacting; maybe they only want to hold him captive. I mean it's not like this is the Foot, they have no feud with us." Don looked at Splinter.

"We do not know who we are dealing with Donatello. Do not forget that they are searching for the child. And don't forget what happened to Leonardo," his sensei said. The turtle tightened his grip on April's hand.

"I somehow doubt they are searching on the behalf of the parents," Don whispered. "They sure didn't to act like it at any rate."

"I fear you are correct, Donatello." the rat nodded. "I would not be surprised that one of them is this 'boss' one of the humans, Raphael rescued Braka from, referred to."

"But the parents must be searching too," April suggested and there were sounds of agreement.

"They say I am the brain in this group. However, I got absolutely no idea what to do. What should we do? Raph and Leo are searching for people we got no idea where they are. They left no trace of where they could have taken Mikey, might just as well have brought him over to their dimension." The turtle sighed heavily.

"And I doubt I could build anything that enables jumps to another world. Just few days ago I would hardly even think about it." Don sank in the sofa.

 **End Chapter 6**

* * *

 **A/N:** **Hgja:** Is not possible to directly translate but is close to our 'Damn'.

I'm not translating the rest of Dqrre's potty mouth, Let just say that those were also swear words. And yes he was really mad at himself. He won't send Don a fruit basket with a written apology, but he doesn't exactly thrill in engaging what he considers kids in battle.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 02/12 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

 _I'm bored._ Mikey sighed softly. He had now been tied to the chair for a while, the light still shone above him but he still couldn't see much outside of it. But the turtle was aware of movements around him.

There were voices as well but he couldn't understand the language. He recognized some words, remembering when Braka had said them sometimes. Occasionally a creature walked past him, stepping into the light, but always kept going, ignoring the prisoner.

"I'm bored," Michelangelo finally said aloud, just to check the reaction. He could hear someone chuckle.

"Bored kid?" a rusty voice addressed him. Mike glanced to his side and had to look up.

Beside him stood the large jackal creature that had fought Don first and then Leo. First now did the formerly orange-clad turtle notice how large the jackaloid was. He spotted the ugly scar visible on his furry neck; it was almost directly above his Adams apple.

"Uh, yeah," Mike said and grinned nervously. "I mean, I know I'm prisoner and all. But the plan is not to bore me to get me talking are you?"

"Not really, the boss figures you would make a better bargaining chip instead." The large creature smirked, the roughness in his voice and attitude reminded the turtle of Raph.

"Quit pestering the prisoner, Rakl," the jackaloid Mike had fought stepped into view in front of the turtle.

Rakl, the large jackal creature, snorted but left shrugging. The other one had wider ears than his comrade. He was holding a chair that he put down then sat in front of Michelangelo.

"So you here to interrogate me?" the ninja asked curiously.

"Nope." The golden-furred being folded his arm and leaned back a little in the chair. "I'm supposed to keep you not-bored."

"Oookay." Mikey raised an eye-ridge. The jackaloid smirked.

"So what's your name, kid?" he asked.

"Michelangelo." The turtle saw no harm in giving that information. "Just call me Mikey, less of a hassle. Or Mike."

"My name is Sqwrt and no I'm not a rymska, I'm an ymska. We are related to them though," the jackaloid told him.

 _These people sure have strange names,_ Mikey thought, Sqwrt was regarding him carefully.

"For someone so young you put up quite a fight. What do you call this battle style you use?" the ymska asked.

"Ninjitsu, been practicing pretty much all my life," the turtle told him and eyed around. "So… um if you don't mind me asking, who are you all."

"We are called Rytonas," Sqwrt told him, scratching his muzzle for a moment. "We are a species that consist of twenty sub-races. Ymskas and rymskas are just two of them. But we, as you probably have guessed, aren't exactly Rytonas of the law abiding variety."

"Eh, no I got that part," Michelangelo muttered. He heard more voices again around, then some laughter and what sounded like cheers.

"Hm, looks like Rer and Rew got the electricity running again." Sqwrt looked up and around just as the whole warehouse was flooded with light.

Michelangelo blinked, not because of the light, but at the sheer number of those Rytonas. There were probably representatives of every sub-race. Ymskas and rymskas seemed to be in majority. However, the turtle could spot few humans there as well. He also noticed that every window was well boarded and covered, meaning no light escaped out.

A rymska with a black fur approached and began removing the lamp. He spoke to Sqwrt and both laughed, then wolfoid disappeared further into the warehouse with the lamp.

"Tired huh?" the ymska asked when Michelangelo suddenly yawned.

"A little, what time is it?" Mike wondered, his wounds from the ambush had stopped stinging but now he was really getting tired.

"After midnight," Sqwrt answered.

"Yo Sqwrt." The hyenaoid that Leo had fought and beaten appeared. "The cell is ready."

"Good Rqwt, let's move Michelangelo so he can go to sleep." The ymska stood up from his chair.

Sqwrt and Rqwt now stepped to Michelangelo and simply picked up the chair he was on. The surprised and slightly confused turtle was then carried further into the warehouse. They entered a small windowless room. The only thing there was a mattress to lie on.

"I warn you from trying anything, though you fight well, I doubt you could get through 60 armed Rytonas weaponless," Sqwrt told Mikey as the turtle was put down. Rqwt began untying the bonds that held the ninja to the chair.

Mike was then left inside the room that was locked. The chair had been taken as well as his bonds. Michelangelo eyed the door, Sqwrt was right, he was no amateur fighter, but not even he could get through so many opponents. At least not, long enough before being apprehended again. The turtle sighed and lay down on the mattress, hoping his brothers would come soon.

* * *

"You are a no good quitter that's what you are!" Raphael snarled, Leonardo sighed in frustration. They had been searching the whole night and it was close to morning.

"Raph, I wish just as much you to find our brother as fast as possible. But we can't find him once we drop dead of exhaustion," he argued raising his voice. The two turtles were in a sewer tunnel. Leonardo had few minutes ago suggested they returned to the lair for few hours rest. Raphael naturally wasn't all too thrilled with the idea.

"Mikey is out there somewhere, probably tied up, bleedin' and god knows what. He could be dead in these few hours you want to laze around in the lair," Raph growled pointing upwards with left hand in the general direction of the lair with the right.

"Raph, we can't continue searching without resting. I miss Mikey just as much as you do. I fear very much for his safety. I should have been there with him. But what kind of a rescue do you think we would be, if they manage to knock us out because we are too tired to even lift our weapons," Leo snapped back. "You didn't fight these creatures. They are maybe no ninjas but they know how to fight just as well. They were only five and held their ground against us. Who knows how many of them are around?"

"You go then and rest, I am continuin'," Raph angrily poked his finger on Leonardo's chest.

"Raph," the blue-clad one growled. "You are not going alone."

"And why not? Do you think I'm scared of…" Raphael couldn't continue. His carapace was slammed up against the wall and he was staring now at furious Leonardo.

"Don't you DARE finish that sentence!" Leonardo snarled. "You have NO idea what I had to go through. I was hunted down like an animal. All my escape routes were cut off. I was shot at, every SINGLE time I tried to escape down a manhole. I was TWO times nearly hit. Then I had to endure six hours of vicious fighting. He cut me up at every open opportunity. He never once allowed me to stop. He TRIED TO KILL ME!"

Raphael blinked; he was so surprised to see his brother so angry that his own anger had vanished. Leo let go of him and turned swiftly around, the blue-masked turtle was shaking.

"I was nothing more than a damn game for him, a training run. A time killer before he went somewhere else. Now this is happening… Michelangelo's been kidnapped by some aliens… I want him back too Raph…" Leonardo whispered and turned. Raph was greeted by the hardened expression his brother had carried for a while.

"But Raph, I made the mistake of thinking I could handle him alone. I didn't make any attempt to contact the lair. You know in what state I returned, I heard Don and Splinter very well. I was lucky that I survived. We are not up against a single one now, we are up against several and they have injured one of us and kidnapped another. We need to rest," he said. "I don't like it either, but I'll not take chances anymore."

"Oh very well." Raph decided to relent this one time. Besides, he was a little startled at having seen the fury in his brother.

They returned to the lair and were greeted by Don who sat in the sofa and Splinter who still sat in the chair.

"We came for an hour rest and then we will continue," Leo announced. Splinter nodded. Raphael walked to the couch and sat down there. He eyed Donatello who stared back.

"How's the leg?" he asked.

"Better, but I'm afraid I won't be walking too much for the rest of the day," Don explained. Leo had disappeared into his bedroom intending to try to relax for this short hour.

Out of the kitchen, Braka came running. He screeched to a halt when seeing who had arrived. The child smiled wide and literally jumped to the sofa landing in Raphael's arms.

"Whoa that was some jump kiddo," Raph said stunned at the feat. The boy only grinned and hugged the turtle babbling something in his alien language.

"Well looks like he likes you," Don commented grinning and was given a glare by his brother.

"Children look for strength and security for comfort. Raphael has provided both to him," Splinter mentioned and smiling.

"But he… I could have sworn I accidentally scared the crap out of him the other day," Raphael had one arm around Braka to support him.

"How?" Don asked looking at the rymska boy; he didn't look scared at all in the arms of the hot tempered turtle.

"I well… he was in the dojo and I caught him when he was going too close to some of the weapons. I was a little harsh. I dragged him away roughly and he sure as hell looked scared to me… but I didn't lay a hand on him. I just pulled him out of the room and released him here in the living room." Raph stared now at Braka who was examining his plastron carefully.

"I think he was only worried about the possible punishment. He probably knew he had done something wrong and was expecting scolding," Splinter said, he dropped his head and his eyes went to the orange mask. "Michelangelo worried often about what I would do when he had taken his playful antics too far."

"Oh so that's where he ran off too." April appeared in the living room. She raised an eyebrow when seeing who the kid was with. "I was making some breakfast for the boy. You guys want anything?"

However, nobody answered except for Splinter who shook his head. The woman just nodded, knowing that they were just too worried about Mikey. She frowned that there was another turtle missing.

"Where is Leo?" the woman asked.

"He went to the bedroom," Don answered April who nodded again and returned to the kitchen.

The purple-masked one turned when there was a light tapping on his shoulder. Braka was trying to have his attention. The rymska pointed smiling at Raphael who had tilted in the sofa and fallen asleep.

"Dad flah," he said making a sleeping motion with his hand and head. Then he curled up in Raph's arms but so that he faced the TV.

 _Uh, did he just call him dad?_ Don looked at Splinter who smiled back at his son.

"It seems that our young guest has accepted your brother as a father figure," his sensei said.

"Who would have thought," the turtle muttered glancing back at this unusual scene.

* * *

"Had a pleasant night?" Akre asked smirking a bit.

Michelangelo was back on the chair, tied up. However, this time he could shrug a bit. The rymska chuckled and waved off the two ymskas who had brought the turtle out. The ninja wondered what was going to happen to him now.

"You know we could end this all so simply, just let us know where we can pick up the kid and that's it. We won't even harm one scale on your family," Akre told the turtle.

"Hey, I may goof off but I'm not stupid enough to fall for that," Mikey grunted, but his captor just smiled.

"Yes, I figured as much. However, I am a rymska of my words. I have no feud with you or your family and I know you're only harboring the child out of the goodness of your heart." Akre sighed but didn't stopped smiling.

"So Sqwrt told me that your name is Michelangelo," the rymska said, he pronounced the name with much harder 'ch' than Mikey was used too.

"Just call me Mike." The turtle shrugged, Akre raised an eyebrow.

"I hope you don't mind if I don't. I don't use nick names," the Rytona said and turned slightly to have a better view of the warehouse.

"So what's the plan here, I mean you are looking for this kid who you obviously kidnapped and are using me as bait or something?" Mikey asked innocently, trying to gain at least some information on what was going on.

"Actually the whole child business was an accident." The rymska glanced back at the turtle with a solemn smile.

"I came to this world originally to check it out, I like establishing business were Rytonas are not well known if at all. It makes it easier to conceal it. We had established a small base elsewhere in your city and I had sent the child over there for safekeeping for the present time. Unfortunately the people who I had set to guard the child proved incompetent for that job." There was a slight snarl in Akre's voice.

"Thanks to that mess up I have put my original plans on hold for now. We are only in this warehouse to tie up few loose ends and will be then leaving for now. Oh and get the child back." The rymska folded his arms.

Michelangelo couldn't but grin a little; it was obvious that Akre was very frustrated over the situation. However, the light-gray Rytona didn't drop into that subject any further; he turned slightly away again to have view over the whole warehouse. He called some orders in his own language; Mikey noticed everybody obeyed without hesitation.

"To tell you the truth Michelangelo, I would love nothing more than just to forget this whole child business. Let you go, just get out of here and enjoy a quiet meal with my wife," Akre turned once more back to the turtle.

"But I have been in business for well over thirty years. I have learned it the hard way you can't leave the loose ends unattended. I can't let disloyalty go unnoticed. In this line of work, you can never be too careful," he continued with narrow eyes.

"In fact, if it hadn't been for the incompetence of these two humans I put in charge originally, I wouldn't even be here," the rymska growled and rolled his eyes.

"Just out of curiosity… uh what happened to those two humans?" Mikey asked, thinking these might be the guys Raphael rescued Braka from.

"Oh they are here somewhere, working on helping with the loose ends. I don't kill for being an idiot," Akre shrugged.

Their small conversation was interrupted when Dqrre came running. The dark-gray rymska was not looking very happy. In fact he looked positively mad. Mike gulped; the Rytona was rivaling Raph when the red-clad turtle was in his worst moods.

Dqrre and Akre began a long conversation in their mother language. It was not surprising that the tone of Dqrre's voice was very angry. Akre sounded calmer but there was slight sharpness suddenly in him. Finally, the light-gray one shook his head tiredly.

"He sounded mad," Mikey commented when the dark-gray rymska stalked away growling and cursing.

"No, actually he was taking this very calmly." Akre corrected him; there was no mock or sarcasm in his voice. "For Dqrre, this was calm."

 _I would hate to see him mad._ Michelangelo's eye-ridges rose.

"So what was he taking so 'calmly' that he looks ready to bite the head off someone?" the turtle then asked.

"The scouts were reporting in, it seems that we got unexpected visitors in you world. By the looks of it, they had been here for few days. Dqrre just worried this might change things too drastically, he always worries about my well being… well he is my older brother and can be such a mother hen sometimes." Akre shrugged and smiled a little.

"It doesn't really change much, unless they manage to enlist the aid of your brothers." The rymska shrugged and began walking away.

 _Who are 'they?'_ Mike could only wonder since Akre was too far away to ask.

He heard some ruckus and looked to his side. Further off he saw Rakl holding Rqwt in a headlock and was giving him a nookie. The umska, as Mike had learned Rqwt's species was named, was struggling against the grinning large ymska.

Rqwt escaped finally, but then oddly enough tried to attack Rakl but was grinning as well. Michelangelo realized now that they were sparring or at least tussling. Sqwrt stood nearby watching with his arms folded, but the smaller ymska was grinning. Other Rytonas were also occasionally glancing at this play-fight.

Mikey saw why Rakl had performed so well both against Don and later Leo. The ymska, despite his size and bulk, was very agile. He also used moves that were not unlike those found in various martial arts forms. Rakl used them though sparingly by the looks of it, since Rqwt didn't show any such skills. He simply tried to wrestle the much heavier Rytona down.

Finally in the end the hyenaoid was on the floor, crying uncle or at least the Rytona equivalent. Rakl rose up and released his comrade. Rqwt rose up slowly, obviously dead tired after the fight. He was patted forcefully on the back by the large ymska who was laughing.

A wild plan suddenly formed in the turtle's head. He eyed around but didn't spot Akre or Dqrre anywhere. Rakl was now stretching and Rqwt was catching his breath on a chair.

"Yo, big guy!" Michelangelo addressed the large ymska. "Want another fight?"

"You lining up kid?" Rakl asked with a snort. Sqwrt glanced at the turtle with a slight frown.

"If you got the guts," Mikey said, wondering if he had been hanging around Raphael for too long.

"So it's challenge eh?" The ymska grinned now, then looked over the warehouse.

"Go find the boss, see if I can answer this challenge," he ordered a nearby Rytona who looked a bit like a deer or a reindeer with very complex set of antlers on his head. The being nodded and disappeared.

 _Damn, didn't realize he would ask permission._ Mike feared his plan would backfire now. He had figured Rakl would like many other bad guys rise to the bait and fight him without the boss knowing about it.

"Be careful Rakl, he is cleverer than his mouth might suggest," Sqwrt told his large comrade.

"I'm always careful," Rakl said with a grin. The reindeeroid returned and said something in Rytonas to the large ymska.

"All right, release him and form a circle around us guys," the large jackaloid said with an eager grin and rubbed his hands together. Mike hoped as the bonds began loosening that he wasn't going to regret this idea.

* * *

"MIKE!" Leo opened his eyes gasping for air and sat up in the bed. He was completely still, clutching his right fist at his heart, panting. The turtle had dreamt that his youngest brother had endured the same as him, viciously hunted and fought. Then returned in a similar state and Leonardo had few weeks back.

"Mikey, I'll find you. Don't worry," he whispered softly. April appeared in the car entrance.

"We heard you scream, is everything all right?" the woman asked worried. Leo's face hardened.

"No, how long have I been sleeping?" he asked.

"Just about an hour," April said looking at her wristwatch. The turtle nodded and stood up from the bed, he grabbed his mask and his weapons.

"You sure you don't want to rest more. You two were searching the whole night," the woman wondered while Leo put on the mask and fastened his belt around the waist.

"And we won't be resting until our brother is back home safe," Leo said clenching is eyes tight to prevent tears escaping through. "Raph was right. Resting is just a waste of time. Who knows what they are doing to him."

"Leo…" April couldn't go any further as the turtle stormed past her towards the living room. She followed and saw Raphael standing up from the sofa having just been awakened by Leonardo.

"Damn, I actually slept?" Raph grunted rubbing his neck. Braka had slid out of his lap and to the couch. The turtle patted the kid on the head smiling at him. "Well kiddo, we need to go find my brother, you take care of the others."

With that, both Leo and Raph left the lair. Braka stood for a while in the sofa and stared after them before sitting down again. April sighed in surrender and sat in the chair closest to the sofa.

"I need to report to work soon. However, if you want I can stay and help you with the boy. I'll just call in sick," she offered. Donatello looked at Splinter who gave no answer.

"That… we would appreciate it April, if that isn't too much trouble. I'm afraid I overdid the leg and it still hurts to move it," Don smiled apologetically.

"Oh it's no trouble, they owe me few sick days anyway." She stood up from the chair. "Is the phone in your room?"

"Yes, I had to fix it a bit and haven't gotten around to put it back here," the turtle nodded.

 **End Chapter 7**

* * *

 **A/N:** Flah: To sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 03/12 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

Leo and Raph were still in the sewer tunnels, using them to move more swiftly during the daylight. Leonardo still felt tired but refused to give in. They were quite some distance from the lair when they heard a splash and a soft voice talking. The turtles drew up their weapons and sneaked onward.

They saw a figure coming into their direction. It used a ragged blanket to cover the body for the most part, but the brothers could see a small tip of a gray tail sticking out and the feet were furry gray.

Raphael didn't even hesitate. Snarling he launched forward and collided with the person and they fell to the moist floor. The turtle pinned the figure under his legs and ripped part of the blanket from its face to reveal the wolfish head. He then proceeded to put his sai right at creature's neck.

"Where is my brother?" Raphael growled. The rymska stared back, eyes wide open in shock and fear. Leonardo caught up with them but didn't put down his sword. Much to the wolfoids terror, the turtle put the point of one katana close to his neck as well.

"You heard him, speak! We know you understand us," he snapped, not feeling much remorse for their current action. For all he knew this was a scout for the ones who had kidnapped his brother.

"Please let him go!" a voice called out. The brothers looked up to see another blanket covered figure approach. It revealed itself and the turtles saw a female rymska. Unlike the male the muzzle was shorter and she had long hair but it didn't look quite natural on her head.

"We don't know anybody of your kind, please, we are only searching for his son," the woman pleaded. Raphael showed no signs that he was going to believe them. Leonardo raised an eye-ridge, looking at the alien woman in wonder before looking down at their captive.

"They have him, Braka's scent is on this one," now the male finally spoke. He was still frightened but managed to indicate to Raphael without being cut by the weapons. Leo removed the katana reluctantly but his brother didn't budge.

"Please, w-we mean no harm, we just want Braka back. Please can we have him back?" The woman was on her knees begging.

"Who are you?" Leo asked showing no hint in his voice or face what he was thinking. He had to restrain his urge to touch his scar.

"My name is Jala and this is my brother Daram. A crime lord from our world kidnapped his wife and child in order to ensure his silence. We later heard that Braka escaped, we don't know how but he did. When we found out, my brother used his limited connections to trace him here." The woman didn't even dare to look at the turtles and was trembling in fear.

"Raphael, stand up," Leonardo ordered after a moment's thought. He looked at the woman again but again didn't betray his emotions.

"I don't trust them," Raph snarled.

"I don't… I don't either." Leo glanced down at Daram. "But there is only one way to find out if they are telling the truth. We must take them to the lair."

"I put you two under my protection. If you are true to your words you will have the child back. But I swear that if you are working for the person who kidnapped our brother, you will have to worry about more than just a crime lord," he said and frowned heavily.

At that, Raphael stood off the rymska and hauled him harshly to his feet. He then threw him forward and told him to walk. Leo gestured to the woman to stand up and follow them. He did have the gut feeling they were telling the truth, but the turtle was still wary.

* * *

 _Yep, I definitely should have rethought that plan,_ Mikey thought as he ducked a blow.

He had now been fighting Rakl for a while; the large ymska was very much a match for the turtle. Mike had so far managed to land some blows but not that many. In fact, Michelangelo wasn't so sure he would win this fight anymore.

 _Yikes._ He quickly back flipped away when Rakl kicked hard, just barely missing the ninja.

The Rytonas around had begun chanting the ymska's name. He was obviously popular and they had no doubts who would be the victor. Michelangelo had the slight upper hand at the beginning, but as the fight processed, the match pretty much evened out.

Akre and Dqrre had appeared in the circle surrounding the fight, but neither rymska said a word. Watched the fight in silence and seemed uninterested in it. However, they didn't try to stop it either; apparently they allowed the men their entertainment, no matter what it was.

"Yaaaah!" Mike had been punched hard and was thrown to the edge of the circle. He landed on his back, right in front of Akre.

"Jeez, what do you feed your men with?" Mike asked, feeling a little dizzy after the punch. Akre didn't answer but chuckled at the weak joke.

The turtle rose and got ready to face Rakl again. The large ymska stood in the middle and waited, the Rytona was grinning. Michelangelo jumped forward and ducked an incoming blow, then kicked. His foot did land on Rakl's stomach who was thrown slightly back.

The ymska was quick to his feet again and charged. Mike prepared to block but then saw that Rakl was apparently going to kick. So the turtle got an idea. Quickly as the large alien approached, the ninja turned. There was a loud crack when the foot connected with Mikey's carapace.

"AAARRG!" Rakl and Mikey screamed. The ymska was jumping up and down on one leg and holding his right foot, the turtle now lay moaning in pain on the floor. There was a large visible crack on his carapace. The Rytona had kicked too hard.

 _That was NOT a good idea._ The orange-clad turtle grit his teeth in pain. Usually a kick to the shell only hurt him slightly and his opponent majorly, but this time the kicker had just been several times stronger than a regular human.

Sqwrt and a rymska rushed to aid the large Rytona. After examining the foot, the other ymska looked up at Akre and sighed.

"It's broken," he said. Their boss palmed his face with one hand and sighed heavily. Dqrre growled and shook his head.

 _Ooow._ Mike cringed both because of the pain and hearing the news; the plan hadn't actually been to break the foot. Just let Rakl kick a part that was supposedly less likely to be injured.

"How is our 'guest'?" Akre asked as he and several Rytonas now approached where the turtle still lay. Rakl had been helped away by others.

"Cracked shell by the looks of it," another rymska commented, crouching by the ninja and gently touching the carapace. "Doesn't bleed."

"But hurts," Mikey groaned. He was tired after the fight and some of his wounds from the ambush had reopened.

"A Raw'j kick like that can break the bone of a human. Ymskas are very strong, and Rakl is stronger than most of them," Akre said. "I'm afraid we do not have anything to mend shells. The best we can do is giving you some pain killers."

"I'll take them," Michelangelo moaned, he was being helped stand up by some of the Rytonas around. His carapace hurt but he could move and that was a good thing.

An umska approached holding a vial of yellowish liquid. The turtle was told to drink it all and the ninja did after only hesitating for a moment. He was in pain and so far he hadn't been treated that badly and the fight had been his own idea. The drink almost worked instantly, the pain eased quite a bit. Michelangelo was then helped back to the chair where he was again bound down.

"You do have some skills boy, who taught you this well?" Akre asked once the ninja looked ready to talk again.

"Our father taught us," Mike explained. "We kind of had to, to survive. You see we have to hide from the humans, they would never really understand us."

"That must be a rough life," the rymska mentioned. Michelangelo would have shrugged but was too tired and it still hurt a bit to move despite the painkillers.

"Never really known anything else," the turtle said instead.

Akre nodded but turned when another rymska approached. He looked younger than the light-gray one and he was carrying a small bag. The newly arrived looked a little tired and frustrated.

"We'll need to take Rakl back to the mountain. Twre is the only one who can handle a broken ankle like that," the younger Rytona explained.

"Very well, tell Rqwt to accompany him," Akre ordered. The other rymska nodded and left. At that moment, Dqrre was approaching, cursing and growling even more.

"Calm down Dqrre, no harm done. Rakl is quick to heal and we are going to be laying low for a while after this is over anyway," the light-gray rymska told his brother calmly.

"I swear if he wasn't such a good fighter, I would have him on front guard duty for the rest of his miserable life!" the dark-gray one snarled, then glared at Mikey who now wished to disappear into the chair.

"I'll get the healer over here," he then grunted and stalked away. Akre chuckled and shook his head.

"I was beginning to regret having abducted you Michelangelo, especially after realizing your young age. But you are proving most entertaining the last few hours of my stay here," the light-gray rymska said glancing at the turtle with a grin.

"Uh… thanks I think," Mikey said.

The rymska from before arrived once more, with Dqrre following close behind. The younger Rytona walked straight to Mikey. He began examining the turtle, he patched up any open wounds but most of them were superficial. On some of the bruises, he smeared ointment from a jar. He examined Michelangelo's head, especially paying attention to the eyes.

"You might have a mild concussion, but not serious. Aside from the crack on your shell, nothing is broken," the Rytona said and packed his jar and vial back into the bag. Then he turned to Akre and Dqrre, the light-gray rymska nodded and the younger Rytona disappeared.

"Dqrre, have the men begin to evacuate this dimension. There is very little we can do from now," Akre told his brother. The dark-gray rymska frowned in slight confusion, but then he seemed catch on and grinned evilly.

"Uh… oookay you are just going to up and leave and give up?" Mike was now utterly confused.

"No, not really. You see, the child's relatives are in this dimension. The father did not bring with him any means to dimension travel. He was stupid enough to trust people who are still working for me to get him over here," Akre told the turtle smirking.

"And." Michelangelo was far from understanding this plan.

"If I simply leave, he will be stranded here. This dimension is a no-contact one; he will have no means to return. He will no longer be any concern of mine," the rymska said. Mike's eyes went wide in shock; the Rytona was ready to strand an entire family in a foreign dimension.

"You had me worried there for a while, dude, I was beginning to doubt you were evil at all," the turtle snorted, but Akre didn't respond just smiled and turned away. Far in the warehouse, a large portal had been opened and some of the Rytonas were already beginning to go through.

* * *

Raphael and Leonardo returned to the lair with Daram and Jala. Almost the minute they climbed down there was a very cheerful reunion. Braka had been tense while standing in the sofa staring at the ladder, as soon as the male rymska was down the kid jumped off it.

"Pabe!" the boy shouted and ran straight into the arms of a very relieved father. He sat on his knees on the floor hugging his son tight. Jala as well crouched and hugged her brother and nephew.

The three rymskas spoke franticly in their language. Both adults hardly seemed able to stop hugging and kissing the boy who had a tight grip around his father's neck. Leo and Raph entered the lair just after them. Leonardo noticed his brother had a slight sign of jealousy on his face. Don emerged from his room using his Bo staff as a crutch and April came from the kitchen. Splinter was still on his recliner.

"We found Braka's father," Leonardo explained. Raphael snorted something.

Everybody safe for Splinter gathered around the reunited family. After few more hugs and kisses, Daram finally rose up and so did Jala. The rymska woman was still nervous and glanced around expecting the worst. The male closed his eyes, muttered something and turned to face Leo and Raph. He held Braka in his arm who was babbling something, very happy to be with his father.

"Thank you for taking care of my son… and keep him away from Akre." The rymska bowed his head. Jala did likewise.

"You are welcome, he needed help and we help those who are in need." Leonardo's heart sank. It was obvious that these people couldn't lead them to their brother. He also felt a bit guilty now for having almost skewered Daram's throat, forcing Jala to beg them for mercy. Raphael only gave a slight nod.

"Akre, he wouldn't be of your kind only with a light grey fur," Don asked, the rymskas spun around staring at the turtle very startled.

"Y-yes… have you met him?" Jala asked. Her eyes widened in surprise when Donatello nodded.

"Akre is here? Oh no… and he has your brother?" Daram looked at Leo and Raphael who as well nodded.

"Oh I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" The rymska handed his son to the rymska woman. The older male was shaking badly.

"This has gone too far, I never should have attempted to blab him. I can't let him hurt innocent people who have nothing to do with this," he said.

"Daram." Jala looked at the rymska as sternly as she could.

"Please Jala, I can't…"

"Can't what? Look, we have Braka back. Let's just go back home." The woman backed and bumped into April.

Daram didn't seem as determined as his sister had suddenly become. He nervously eyed Raphael who scowled and folded his arms. Leonardo showed no expression as usual but he had re-sheathed his katana. The rymska turned to look at Donatello who leaned on his staff and April who had stepped aside from Jala. Finally Daram noticed where Splinter thoughtfully watched the event at hand.

Leonardo found though Jala's behavior curious. He usually would have just brushed it off as a very concerned sister, but still her insistence to just up and disappear with the boy. The turtle wondered if there was something else going on, something that was only between the two older rymskas.

"I'm the head of our family. I will not let Akre hurt innocent people because I was a fool," Daram attempted to sound stern, though it wasn't terribly convincing. He gathered up more courage and faced the turtles that had brought him and his sister to the lair. The others were a bit surprised that Jala hadn't protested, just clammed her mouth shut.

"I-I will help you find your brother. I know how Akre works. First, he thinks Braka is loose in this dimension he is still here and so should your brother. This is the least I can do… for taking care of my son," the older male rymska offered. Raphael looked at Leonardo who nodded slightly. Raph growled but said nothing more.

"Very well. We accept your help. However, my words still stand. You must understand we put enormous trust in you by showing you our lair." Leo told Daram.

"I understand," the rymska whispered.

"Let's get goin' then," Raph grunted and started towards the ladder.

Daram turned to his sister. They started to talk with each other in their language. They could easily detect the resentment in the woman's voice, but she nodded in the end and sighed. Braka was hugged by his father, but when he faced his sister again and prepared to embrace her, she turned away.

 _There is definitely something more going on here._ Leonardo frowned when seeing how crestfallen Daram looked at this apparent rejection from his sibling.

"So are you leaving for your world with the boy?" April asked the rymska woman after Leo and Daram had left. She decided not to comment on that last event.

"I'm staying here with Braka, both as a matter of security and… well I'm kind of your hostage just in case," Jala answered shaking her head; she was holding Braka who hugged her tight now but kept an eye on the ladder.

"You are not a hostage here, but you can be our guest and are most welcome," Splinter finally spoke. They turned to face him and he motioned everybody to come closer. April helped Don to the couch. Jala hesitated but followed them, still carrying the boy.

"Do you wish for any refreshment child?" the rat asked smiling warmly at the rymska who eyed Donny and April, they shrugged and smiled.

"No thank you," she said. Braka broke free from her arms and slid down to the floor. He promptly walked to the TV set pointed at it and turned to his aunt. The boy said something the non-rymskas didn't quite catch.

"What did he say?" Donatello asked curiously. The rymska woman looked at him with a nervous smile while sitting down on a chair close to the couch.

"He said this was a story box you allowed him to watch. Even though he didn't understand the words spoken," she explained. Braka sat down in front of the TV and proceeded to watch what was on. This clearly amused his aunt.

"I can see he has been well taken care of," Jala whispered with a sad smile.

"We did our best," Don shrugged. The rymska woman looked at the turtle and then at April, lastly she looked at Splinter.

"I see three species here. Yet I was told this was a human only dimension or at least the humans are only aware of themselves here. Why do you live underground?" she asked sounding slightly confused.

"Ah, the age old question," Donatello grinned and April smiled.

"How about a story in turn for a story," Splinter suggested smiling. "I will tell you who we are and our origin. In return you can perhaps shed some light on how your nephew came to this world."

"Sounds fair to me, but why don't I start. After all, you took care of my nephew. My brother is already repaying you by help finding your relative. I will repay it by telling you what I know about this messy deal," Jala offered. Splinter nodded so the woman took a deep breath before continuing.

"I'm afraid I only know the basics and not all the dark details. This all begins with my brother. He was a rebellious teenager who fell in with the wrong crowd and ended up as an employee of Akre. At first he enjoyed it. Akre takes good care of people who work for him if they show loyalty in return. All Daram really did in this job was making sure certain information didn't leak away and provided the crime lord with information in turn," she started the story.

"But later on as Daram got older he realized that this wasn't right. He met some people that really scared him and were in employment of Akre. He finally saw that he was working for dangerous people and wished to quit. He had recently married his wife and she had born him a son, Braka. He didn't gather up the nerve to quit though until five years later. It sounded easy enough. All he had to do was just be silent about his old work."

The woman fell silent and hung her head while recalling more about her brother's past. It took her a minute to continue but everybody waited patiently.

"Two weeks ago my brother was in severe financial difficulties. His and his wife's job weren't paying enough. Unfortunately, thinking ahead isn't one of my brother's strongest qualities. He thought he could blackmail money out of Akre with all the information he knew about him. So he sent him a note and Daram got a note in return."

"He got a note from Akre that if he didn't keep his mouth shut he would never see his wife and his son again. When Daram returned home they were both gone, kidnapped by Akre's people. Daram tried first to refuse, not believing that the crime lord had his family hostage. But a week ago he got a confirmation…"

Jala stopped now as she was starting to cry, tears slowly crept down. The rymska held her arms together and trembled. Don who sat closer to the woman put his hand on her shoulder trying to comfort her.

"They sent him a package… and inside the package was his wife's head," she whispered. April eyed the boy who still watched the TV. Good thing this was all said in English so he didn't understand. Don removed his hand before the rymska continued.

"Not even Akre would harm a child, but my brother got the message. He would either have to shut up or never see Braka again. Then few days ago he was told by some who still were friendly towards him but still in Akre's employment, that his son had escaped captivity. Braka had been transported to another dimension and in that dimension he escaped. Daram eyed a gleam of hope, to reunite with his son and disappear with him. He didn't tell any government officials, like he should have. They would have found Braka almost immediately." Jala sighed and shook her head.

"Instead he convinced those few friends he still had and still worked for Akre to help him. He also asked me to help him find Braka. Daram's friends gave him the information on where Braka was and opened a portal for him. We came to this dimension about two days ago. Too far away from where Braka had been kept and escaped, something had gone wrong with the portal. It nearly collapsed on me. Then just few hours ago, we found the spot he escaped from, but his scent was very weak and we barely managed to trace it to the sewers. We were searching blindly when your friends found us."

There was a silence now. Don was deep in thought staring downwards. April regarded the wolfoid who closed her eyes after finishing the story. Splinter was nodding while thinking about what they had been told.

"I… I fear your brother's friends must have betrayed you." Don looked up and glanced at Jala who frowned. "Few days ago, my brother and I saw Akre and his men emerge from a portal, in the same alley where my other brother found your nephew."

"I feared as much, but Daram trusted them. He sometimes goes on his impulses alone without thinking too clearly." She shook her head again, more tears started to crawl down from her eyes. "Which is why I just wanted to go back home when I finally had Braka in my arms. I figured he would listen. We could easily seek help, get protection."

April glanced back at the boy. Braka had eyed his aunt when she had started crying but didn't seem to dare to go to her. She found that a curious behavior. As well as Jala's word: _'when I finally had Braka in my arms'_. She had been on her way to say another word, but quickly replaced it with 'Braka'.

"I believe we should rest our thoughts from the present," Splinter spoke up smiling reassuringly to the rymska woman. "You wished to hear our origin. It all started in Japan, a country in this world over eighteen years ago…"

* * *

"Yes I can scent it. It's beginning to faint but I can still smell it." Daram looked around in the alley. The rymska was once more concealed in the blanket. Raph stood guard to make sure that nobody bothered them. The evening was approaching and the daylight was fading.

They were in the same place where Mikey had been ambushed. Leo stood beside the rymska who continued to scent around. It was slightly comical to see him shift around with his disguise.

"How good is your sense of smell," Leo asked, his hopes had all perked up again when Daram had said he could try to sniff his way to Mike.

"Rymska's can detect lies by scent," Daram claimed surprising Leonardo very much. "But we have our limits and even our noses can be bluffed."

"So can you find our brother?" the turtle asked, the rymska became still. Since his face was mostly concealed Daram's thoughtful expression couldn't be seen.

"Well, I'm not used to use my nose to follow a trail. I would have to be a law enforcer, they train to peak and use all their senses. But I can scent the salty smell of sea and I can scent something old… like old house perhaps…"

"Abandoned warehouse?" Leonardo suggested. The blanket turned towards him.

"Yeah, something like that," the rymska agreed.

"Abandoned warehouse by the sea; must be the harbor." Raphael glanced back at them.

"Yes, let's find a phone and call Don. He can search for warehouses not in use." Leonardo then gestured the rymska to follow them out to the street again.

"Don, is that the one with the wounded leg?" Daram asked.

"Yes," Leonardo responded while looking left and right to make sure nobody was around. Their disguises were good enough but you could never be too careful.

 **End chapter 8**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 05/12 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

There weren't many left in the warehouse. Safe for Akre, Michelangelo and Dqrre, there were only roughly twenty Rytonas left. The turtle was worried that the light-gray rymska might change his mind and take him as well over.

The portal was still open, but the remaining Rytonas and the few humans still there as well seemed busy working nearby it. Mikey didn't pay much attention to it, figured it was related to the loose ends.

"Sir, the essentials are all over, the humans have all agreed to come over as well for security purpose." Sqwrt the ymska approached his boss. Akre nodded in approval.

"Good, very good. Tell the remaining men to standby just in case," the rymska said. Sqwrt bowed and ran back to the working Rytonas.

"What if his brothers arrive and Daram as well?" Dqrre asked. He was standing behind the chair Michelangelo was in. Akre had his back turned to the turtle, so the ninja couldn't see his expression.

"It's of no consequences if his brothers come barging to the rescue. They are no law enforces; they have no contact with Rytonas. They would simply want their brother back," the light-gray rymska said. "As for Daram, if he is stupid enough to actually show himself here…"

Mike didn't like the underlying tone in that last sentence, nor the abrupt halt it had come to. He glanced back and saw that Dqrre had dropped his usual angry scowl and had a thoughtful expression. Two young rymskas were now walking towards them. They spoke to Akre in Rytonas hurriedly; the dark-gray rymska frowned.

"I'll be damned," Dqrre muttered. Akre turned to face his brother and Mikey, his expression was very hard.

"Well, it looks like your brothers have arrived. At least two of them, one with a blue mask and scar on his cheek and the other with a red mask and multiple scars on his back shell," he said before glancing at Dqrre and told him something in their own language.

 _Raph and Leo, yeah, all right._ Mike smiled on the inside. His rescue was imminent.

"Time for the other plan, Dqrre, let's sedate our young friend here." Akre nodded to his brother and then turned his back towards them.

"Wait what?" Mike's eyes widened in shock.

"I'm not in the habit of exposing all my plans to my prisoners, Michelangelo. Don't worry, it's not harmful. I'm just making sure that your brothers won't have it too easy when they manage to free you," the light-gray rymska said.

Mikey cringed and the winched when there was stinging feeling in his upper arm. Dqrre had drawn up from somewhere a syringe and injected something into him. The turtle immediately began feeling slightly dizzy and then lost consciousness. The dark-gray rymska disposed of the medical equipment in a bag and gave it to an ymska who disappeared towards the open portal.

"Let's accelerate the process a little," Akre said and picked up a device that looked like a voice recorder. "Men, get ready!"

The remaining Rytonas scattered around the warehouse with swords drawn. Akre looked at Dqrre who nodded in understanding and drew up his own sword. The light-gray rymska then operated the device. Out of it came a scream, sounded like Michelangelo's voice. It was in fact, when he had been fighting Rakl and the ymska had cracked his carapace. However, the device made it sound louder and more terrified.

"That should get their attention," Akre said and turned off the device.

* * *

Leo froze when he heard the sound. That had been too familiar for comfort. He, Raphael and Daram were at the harbor and nearby was a line of old warehouses stood. Most of them with boarded up windows, clearly abandoned for some time.

"That was Mikey!" Raph growled and immediately darted off ripping of his coat and hat. Leo followed doing exactly the same. Nobody was around anyway and the clothes would just be in the way.

Daram couldn't keep up with the much more fit ninjas and saw them hurry towards a single warehouse in the distance. The rymska used the opportunity to pick up the discarded disguises. He then hurried after the brothers, not noticing he was being followed.

Raphael didn't wait or hesitate. He rammed his body into the door of the building. It shattered under his weight and strength. With both sai in hands, he jumped in roaring in anger. Leo came right behind him holding his katana.

"Mikey we're coming," the leader called but didn't have an opportunity to look for his brother. Angry Rytonas attacked him and Raph from all sides.

Leonardo had to fight five rymskas at first. He was very relieved to learn that they were not very experienced in any combat. He quickly disarmed one and kicked the alien away. The others he had to fence with for a short while but managed to knock one out and kick the others to the floor. He then hurried further into the building.

Raphael was as usual diving headfirst into any opponent slicing around with his sai. He managed to kill two of reindeeroids, in the first run and then faced a squat of ymskas. They tried to circle him but Raph was in no mood for battle tactics and launched for the first jackaloid. The turtle knocked it out so hard that he fractured the alien's jaw. The others tried their best to poke their swords into the enraged turtle but were soon either sliced or stabbed. Raphael suffered some injuries from this encounter and had a gashing wound on his upper arm. But in his fury he felt no pain.

Leonardo was facing more rymskas and now umskas as well. So far he had managed to avoid too much bloodshed trying more to knock his opponents out. However, it took effort. These grunts were much tougher than Foot ninjas and didn't go easily down. Fortunately, it didn't seem that many of them.

Leo swung his swords around knocking out a young ymska who had joined the battle. He had made the mistake to duck within reach of the turtle. Leonardo finally noticed a chair far inside the warehouse and the lone green unconscious figure tied on it. For a split second, he halted when recognizing his brother.

 _Mikey? Oh no… what have they done too you._ He tried to go towards his brother but he was surrounded.

"What have you done to my BROTHER?!" Leo roared and started to swing both his katana madly at anybody who came too close. Now he didn't care if he killed, an ymska fell for his new grown fury. More came and more fell. Leonardo started to edge his way towards Mikey. Raphael approached as well, his anger refueled when seeing the state of his brother.

"Nobody! NOBODY messes with MY brother!" Raph shouted as more ymskas fell for his sai.

"Mikey, we are coming." Leo didn't care if his brother didn't hear him.

Leonardo fixed his stare on two rymskas who stood much too close to Michelangelo than he liked. However, his anger changed into terror when Dqrre raised his sword and put it at his brother's neck.

"Halt or your brother dies," Akre ordered with a growl.

Leonardo froze solid, he was now only few meters away and so was Raph. The Rytonas they had been facing halted as well, but the turtles were given many angry glares. So far of the roughly twenty, only seven were still standing. Others were unconscious or dead.

"Let him go!" Leonardo shouted angrily.

"In due time," the light gray rymska said smiling an unnerving smile. Dqrre growled something but didn't otherwise move.

"Put down your weapons," Akre ordered. Hesitating slightly, Leo threw down his katana. Raph took longer to obey but after a stern reminder by Dqrre that he would kill Mike, the turtle threw the sai away.

"Quite a mess this is isn't it." The crime lord shook his head in disapproval. "We were expecting you, but I didn't anticipate you would be able to go through that many so easily. Guess I need to look into better training methods for my men."

"Release our brother," Leonardo shouted but frowned when realizing what the rymska had said. "Wait… you were expecting us?"

"Yes and I can see that at least a part of this version of my plan worked," Akre told him smirking. "Wasn't expecting that high body count… but oh well at least I separated the two of you from Daram."

Leo froze when he realized that they had left the rymska outside. Two large horseoids came walking into the warehouse holding between them a struggling blanket clad figure. The blue-clad turtle gasped in shock.

"Looks like I won't need the child after all, I see Daram has arrived himself," Akre said but there was no mock in his voice. He was narrowing his eyes on the disguised rymska.

One of the otanis, the horseoids species, ripped the disguise off Daram and threw it away. The rymska was then thrown down in front of Akre. Dqrre stepped a bit forward but kept his eyes on the two now very pissed off turtles.

"All right Akre you got me, so stop this madness. I can't see innocent people suffer cause of me, let the boy go," Daram begged where he was kneeling in front of the older Rytona.

"Akre, I beg you. Leave these people alone. I will shut up. I apologize for try forcing you to buy my silence, please," the rymska continued to plead. "Please, hasn't he suffered enough? Haven't they suffered enough?"

"I told young Michelangelo that I don't kill for being an idiot," Akre said, glaring down at Daram who had his head bowed.

"But disloyalty I do not tolerate," his voice darkened. "Dqrre, kill him!"

Leonardo felt cold when hearing the emotionless order. The dark gray rymska removed the sword from Mikey's throat and stepped forward swinging the weapon. He struck it down on Daram who tried to scramble to his feet and away.

The turtle launched for his katana and grabbed them from the floor. The blue clad ninja prepared to come to the aid of the rymska and his brother. However, Raphael had already taken action. His hot-tempered brother had drawn a shuriken. Skillfully he threw it so the projectile embedded itself into Dqrre's sword hand.

Cursing the dark gray rymska backed away and ripped out the projectile. He rescued his sword from the ground but then both Raphael and Leonardo were too close. Akre noticed this as well and they simply ran off.

Raphael was going to follow them, but the reminder of the Rytona guards they had been fighting, as well as the two large otanis, surrounded their leaders. The turtles noticed now the dimensional portal on the other end of the building. More Rytonas were coming through with swords drawn.

"Raphael leave them; help me with Mike and Daram." Leonardo wanted just as much to chase this escape. However, they had severely wounded to tend and with the savage blow he had received, Leo wasn't sure Daram would survive.

The blue clad turtle wasn't sure either if he or Raphael could really win this battle if they continued to fight. With the sudden reinforcements there were just too many of them. The creatures seemed though only content on keeping the turtles at bay for now rather than attack.

Reluctantly Raph turned to help his brother. Leo was already at Mike's side trying to wake him up, but the younger turtle didn't stir. Only his steady breathing indicated that the ninja was alive. The blue-masked turtle winched when seeing the crack on the carapace. Raphael knelt beside the rymska and turned him thinking he was dead. Daram was still gasping for air. Quickly the turtle took him into his arms.

"Who is this?" the rymska asked, his eyes didn't focus. He had already lost too much blood and it kept flowing over Raph.

"It's Raphael," the ninja responded. Furred hand reached up slowly and touched him on the beak.

"You… you took care…of my son?" he asked weakly trying to look at the person holding him.

"Yes," Raphael answered. He looked at Leo who seemed to have finally managed to wake Mikey up. Their brother was in a strange state and just bobbed his head around mumbling what sounded like complete nonsense.

"Leo, he isn't going to make it." Raph indicated to the rymska who desperately tried to breathe. Leonardo turned his head towards them and saw that his brother was correct. There was no way that they would be able to bring Daram back to the lair alive. He nodded turning his attention back to Mike.

"Please…tell Braka I love him," Daram said with a final effort then his eyes closed and didn't open again.

"He doesn't understand us," Raphael said even though he knew it was too late. A growl escaped from his lips.

"How very touching," they heard a distant voice. Raphael let go of the body and jumped up. Spinning around he saw that Akre was standing beside the portal and still hadn't left. Otherwise the warehouse was now empty. The Rytonas had picked up their dead or unconscious comrades and taken them through.

"To think this could all have been avoided. If you had simply left Daram behind in your home, I was simply going to let your brother go with you free. Then I would leave this world. But I guess I got to dispose of Daram after all." the rymska smirked mockingly.

Snarling Raph darted towards the portal and the rymska who quickly disappeared through. The turtle jumped and would probably have gone after Akre if the portal hadn't closed. Instead he landed right on the wall that was behind it.

"DAMN!" Raphael roared into air clenching his fists and fell to his knees.

* * *

There was a silence of shock and terror when the turtles returned home to the lair. Leonardo wasted no words, carried and half-dragged Mike towards his own bedroom. Michelangelo had still not snapped out of his strange state he had woken up from. April jumped up to assist. Donatello and Splinter went after them.

Raphael halted briefly before climbing down, holding the body of deceased Daram. He saw Jala standing in front of the sofa. She grabbed her muzzle gasping. Braka came around the furniture staring at both his father and the turtle. He pointed at the rymska.

"Pabe flah?" His voice was barely audible. Raph knelt down not taking his eyes of the boy. Jala came running. She dropped to the floor and hauled the body of her brother from Raphael. The woman hugged Daram and began to cry loudly.

"Pabe?" Braka approached the body of his father. Raphael took a deep breath reached for the child and took him into his arms. In the strong embrace, the boy started to cry.

"Your dad loved you kid," the turtle whispered, even though he knew the boy didn't understand. "He loved you."

* * *

"Most of these wounds look already mended, except for that crack. But what have they done to him?" April managed to hold back the tears as she applied the last bandage on Michelangelo's arm. Donatello finished mending his brother's legs. The whole time Leo tried to snap his brother out of it.

Splinter stood silent allowing his sons and their human friend, surrogate sister, to tend Mike's wounds. The rat showed worry in his face, fearing for his student life. Their sensei could only hope that his hadn't broken Michelangelo's high spirit. Already the rat was starting to miss his son's pranks.

"Mike please wake up." Leo had his left hand on Mike's cheek. The right held the bandaged shoulder carefully and the ninja hoped he wasn't causing his brother any pain,

"Mikey, its over. Come back. I should have been there, I'm so sorry Mike please come back to us," he whispered gently caressing his brother's cheek. Michelangelo's eyes stopped staring into the distance and became more focused but there was still no reaction. He had stopped mumbling.

"Mikey." April gently stroke the turtle's crown. Donatello sat at the end of the bed staring in disbelief.

 _How could this happen? Why Mikey? Of all, why him?_ the turtle thought. He almost expected Mike to suddenly rise up and reveal this all to be one of his many practical jokes, nothing happened. Leo continued to talk with him and April had now joined in, the sound of voices apparently had the right effect.

 _Did they torture him? Those wounds weren't that bad. But he looks like he… Why causing all this to get one person to be silent?_ Donny looked down at his own wound. Angrily the turtle ripped the bandage off and threw it away.

 _If I hadn't injured that… I should have seen that dratted sword coming,_ he continued to stare at the stitches. They held the wound in place allowing it to heal. Donatello was almost tempted to attack stitches as well and rip them out, but an old hand was laid on his shoulder. Looking up he stared into the face of his sensei.

"Your brother needs you, Donatello," he said. Don held his gaze for a second but then looked at Mike.

"Mikey, buddy…" he trailed off not knowing really what to say. Sighing the turtle started to pat his brother on the bandaged leg. "Mike, please wake up."

"What the hell did they do to you, Mike," Leo whispered not noticing that he gripped Mikey's shoulder harder. Michelangelo's eyes closed suddenly and his hand grabbed Leo's.

"Ow, ow, dude, let go of the shoulder… it hurts," he whispered weakly. "That's where this damn ymska did a karate chop on me!"

For a split second, Leonardo only stared down at Mike in shock. He then removed his right hand and planted it on his brother's other cheek.

"Mikey? You're awake?" he asked excitedly. Mikey hesitantly opened one eye, his hands grabbed Leo's and the other eye opened.

"Leo?" He tried to smile. "It's really you?"

"Yes, it's really me Mikey. We got you out of there," Leonardo said smiling even wider. Mike looked around and saw where April was kneeling in front of the bed.

"I knew I heard an angel calling." The turtle managed too grin, this caused the woman too laugh. Mike reached for her hand and she grabbed his holding tight.

"Donny, stop stroking my leg dude, it's taken." He had, with Leo's help, raised his head to see where Donatello still sat at the end. The purple masked one stopped but didn't take his shocked eyes off Mike.

"I, well… I thought you were… for a moment… I didn't know what to say." Donatello then smiled. "Welcome back bro."

"Man I could use an aspirin, my head has a drummer in it and he's playing constantly." Michelangelo laid his head back on the pillow. That drug he had been injected with had been powerful. First now Leo let go off him.

"I'll get it," he said standing up but first now noticed that Splinter had left the subway car. The rat returned with a cup of tea and aspirin.

"Drink this, my son and here is the aspirin." Their sensei handed everything to Mikey who was aided again by Leo to rise up.

"Thanks Master Splinter." Mike swallowed the pills and drank the tea. "Ahh, slightly better."

"Mike, were they… were they torturing you?" Leo hated to ask this so soon but he just had to have it confirmed. He stroke his brother's carapace ready to help him lie back down.

"Not exactly. They were about to, but changed their mind," Mikey explained with a weak smile. Everybody stared at him confused.

"I kind of was suddenly too young to be tortured." The turtle shrugged. He then explained to them what had actually happened. They felt a huge relief when learning that Michelangelo had in fact escaped this ordeal not seriously injured, aside from the carapace but it only stung now.

"Well you still need to rest," Leonardo said and helped him down. Mikey did in fact still feel a little weak, probably after effects of the strange drug.

"Uh Leo," Mikey addressed his brother. "You didn't happen to get that pizza I dropped when I was ambushed did you?"

* * *

There was a dead silence in the living room, save for a ticking of a clock Don had once found, fixed and put on display in the living room. Splinter sat in his recliner. Leo was in the chair closest to the sofa and on it were Jala, Braka and Raphael. Mike was now resting; he had been transferred to his own subway car. Daram's body had been laid temporarily in Don's lab as it sometimes served as an infirmary.

"So you really have no means to return home?" Leonardo broke the silence. The woman nodded sighing sadly.

Jala had finished few minutes ago explaining that only Daram had really known how they would leave this dimension. He had never told her, although the rymska woman suspected he didn't have any plans. His original one was to disappear with Braka.

"You and your nephew are welcome to stay here if you wish. It would probably be safer because not all humans are like Miss O'Neil," Splinter offered, the rymska only muttered a thank you. She was holding her arms together and stared down.

"We could probably find a room for you, Don could probably move his lab out again for the time being," Leo offered. The space Donatello had used close to the living room was still empty.

"You don't have to make trouble," Jala mumbled.

"Forget it, it's no trouble at all," Raph said grinning and Braka tried to mimic him. The turtle gave the boy a curious glance.

"For the time being, you can have my room. I'll just sleep on the couch," Leonardo said, the woman only nodded in response.

"I better take Braka to bed now," she said when the boy yawned wide. Without further words she took the protesting child into her arms and walked off to the Leonardo's subway car. Raph sighed horribly when she had disappeared.

"What troubles you my son?" Splinter asked the turtle who was scratching the back of his neck with an annoyed look.

"It bother's the hell out of me, she's stuck here. Where she is from she isn't considered a freak, she could walk the streets freely, have friends and everythin'. Now she's stuck in a world where she better remain hidden if she doesn't want to end up in some laboratory. Be dissected or something worse." He shook his head. "We can deal with it easily enough. After all we didn't have much choice in that matter. But ya think she's up to it? The kid is probably adaptable but what about her?"

"Well I hope she is." Donatello came limping out of his lab having heard everything Raphael said. "I have tried to write every single damn idea and theories I could come up with, but I still can't grasp it how somebody can travel to another world."

"Well if Donny is stumped," Raph said pointing at Don with his thumb. Leo sighed and shook his head.

"Then there is little we can do but try and make their stay here as comfortable as possible. Who knows? Maybe someone from her world will come looking for her and the boy. We better stay on guard just in case," he suggested after slight silence. Everybody nodded safe for Raphael who only shrugged.

In the subway car Jala lay in Leo's bed crying silently. Braka was asleep and oblivious to his aunt's sorrows. The woman had neglected on purpose to mention that her kind has specialized muscles in the ears. Moving them, rymskas could go completely deaf or hear even the faintest sound. She had heard Don's confession that he wasn't sure he could create a dimensional portal, thus dashing all her hopes to return home.

 **End Chapter 9**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 08/12 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 10.**

 _About week later._

"Damn no sodas left?" Mike rummaged through the refrigerator; it was late afternoon by now.

The week had passed slowly. Mike had taken a full day to recover from his injuries, but was then pretty much back to his old self. He had helped Don move his lab back out in order to make room for Jala and Braka. The boy had adapted surprisingly well, he hung out either with this aunt or Raphael. The kid had really become attached to the red-clad turtle.

They had cremated Daram deep in an abandoned section of the sewer system. Jala had pretty much cried non-stop the whole time. Braka hadn't seemed to quite understand what was going on, but the only one who could really explain it to him was not available. The rymska woman then spent the rest of the day in her room.

Leonardo as well seemed to have finally dropped his attitude. He still hadn't told in full detail what had happened to him. However, the relentless training had stopped and the blue-masked turtle looked to be in high spirit again. For the first few days though, he had acted a little bit like a mother hen on Michelangelo, until finally Splinter himself told him to calm down.

"Man you would think they leave me some." Mikey shook his head and rose up; as he closed the refrigerator, the turtle noticed Jala walking into the kitchen.

"Hey dudette, how ya hanging," he smiled, the rymska woman looked at him slightly confused, she understood the turtles fine but sometimes they used words she was not used to. Don had though done his best to explain most of the common slang the ninjas sometimes used.

"Um, fine I guess." Jala shrugged. Mike walked briskly towards her, but his smile dropped when seeing that the woman didn't seem as happy as she had tried to sound.

"Hey for real, are you all right," he asked concerned.

"I'm not trying to sound ungrateful, I really appreciate you people allowing me and Braka to stay here but I just really miss my home," Jala whispered sadly, she supported herself with a chair looking down.

"Aw, you are not being ungrateful; of course you miss your home, anybody would. Man, I would not like it myself to be literally in another world far away from my brothers and sensei." Mike put his hand reassuringly on her shoulder. He then gestured to the chair. "Here sit down."

As the woman was sitting, Mikey grabbed another chair and sat down close by her. For a slight moment, the turtle regarded the wolfoid who was wearing the same dress she had arrived in. He couldn't make up his mind if it was made out of leather or another material that was similar.

"I would offer you a soda but it seems my brothers have been hogging it." He started and that actually generated a grin on Jala. "But that's ok, April said she would be coming down with supplies, either tomorrow or the day after that."

"Now don't worry too much, I know Donny said he couldn't but I'm pretty sure that he hasn't exactly given up. We'll try to get you and Braka home again I promise," Mike then said, Jala frowned slightly and moved her head to stare at the turtle.

"I wish I could be that optimistic. I'm not an expert in dimension traveling but I know that it isn't an easy subject to tackle." She shook her head. "Many don't even try to understand it and let the experts handle that part."

"Well Donny has yet to let us down, he always manages to surprise us." Mike grinned lifting his arms in a shrug. "If you don't mind telling, I really would like to hear about your world, never got around asking."

"Where to start?" Jala smiled now genuinely. "Although I am a rymska, we normally consider us a subspecies of a bigger group which we call Rytonas. We all live together as a one nation under one rule. We are well developed on the technological level, but we have chosen to use limited amount of it."

"Whoa, why?" Mike raised an eye-ridge in surprise. He didn't tell her though he knew about the names from his captivity a week ago.

"We like to use only what we think is necessary. We are not people who are in a lot of hurry. Technology to speed things up isn't high on our priority except if it's very essential," Jala explained. "I come from a small town named Hona. I only had my brother Daram and his wife and little Braka. Our parents died just after Braka was born."

"Bummer, I'm sorry. So is that why you came with him to look for your nephew?" Michelangelo asked. The woman nodded, a single tear came crawling down her cheek.

"Daram only had me and Braka after Akre had his wife killed. I couldn't let him go alone. I was so worried about him." The woman sniffled; Mike reached forward and patted her gently on the left hand.

"I'm really sorry about your bro and that he got caught. I kind of wished it hadn't happened. If I hadn't got caught like that he probably would be here," Mike said sadly. A furry hand took his.

"No, it's ok. He wanted peace… maybe this was really the only way. Akre is relentless in searching for those he considers traitors. He wouldn't have wanted this any other way," Jala reassured the turtle.

"Well at least he left his sister to take care of his son," Mikey said with a grin, not noticing that her smile dropped a little. The turtle stood up from the chair gesturing to the fridge and the stove.

"Hey if you are hungry I can cook something for you." he grinned even wider. Jala raised an eyebrow in real surprise.

"Well, sure, that was really why I came here. I was going to cook something myself," she said, Mike's face lit up when hearing that.

"Want to help? I love cooking with people too," he said. The rymska woman thought it over for a moment then stood up shrugging.

"Might as well," she then said.

* * *

Leonardo listened smiling to the happy chatter coming from the kitchen. At least their guest wasn't sunken into depression despite being trapped in a foreign world. The turtles had been a little worried about Jala; she had sort of just been there. Not necessarily moped but kept herself to the side.

They suspected she was blaming herself for what had happened. Their suspicions had even grown stronger when they caught her trying to sneak out. She didn't confirm it, but Raphael had figured she was trying to simply book. Even commit suicide.

It had landed on Donatello to take her for a walk topside. The purple clad turtle had actually managed to spring some conversations with her occasionally. It turned out that Jala had mild interest in science, especially biology aspect of it. She worked as a research assistant in a hospital back in her own world.

After the walk, Jala did seem to have gotten into better mood. She began interacting better with her nephew. Braka was of course thrilled that her aunt stopped looking so depressed.

Now Leonardo felt sure that she was feeling at least a little better. Casually he walked to the entrance of the dojo. The turtle noticed Raph doing his normal routine with the punching bag. Braka was watching nearby and even making playful mimicking moves.

Without a word the turtle stared performing his katas, he was still deep in thought and worried. He had maybe finally somewhat managed to get over his memories. Still they lingered in him. If these creatures could get here so easily, what was to stop his assailant from returning?

"Damn," he heard Raph grunt from the corner.

"Owie?" the squeaky voice of Braka asked.

"Yeah, owie. Guess I shouldn't have punched the chain at this force," Raphael responded.

Leo heard then him and Braka walk out of the room; he took a deep breath and continued with the movements. It was an hour later when the turtle stopped. He could feel a presence and turned. The ninja bowed for Splinter who stood nearby.

"You are doing well my son, but in your movements I could see that something heavy lays on your mind," the rat simply said. Leonardo sat down on his knees with his head bowed.

"I am worried Master Splinter," he admitted. Splinter walked closer, supported by his walking stick.

"You worry about our foreign guests?" The sensei wasn't surprised that his student nodded.

"It is like Raphael said about a week ago. It's unfair for them to have to live in hiding suddenly. They are used to freedom; they could move freely above ground, nobody would consider them anything but equals. The boy is still young and has a future among his kind and Jala has probably friends as well," Leonardo explained shaking his head. "It's difficult not to be able to do anything for them."

"I am sure your brother is working on something. Even though he has doubts, Donatello has yet to disappoint us and always manages to surprise me," Splinter said thoughtfully and laid a hand on his son's shoulder. "Don't blame yourself for this. You and your brothers did what you could, don't forget that they come from a world that is highly advanced."

"I know, I just wish I could have done more, even saved her brother. He tried making amends. He regretted his foolishness. The memory still stings when this Akre ordered him to be killed, there was no emotion in the face or the voice." Leo looked up to face Splinter. "I can only wonder why then? When Daram was almost on his knees begging for mercy, why not sooner without all this trouble?"

"Things are not always simple my son. We do not know the full story, only the account of what Miss Jala knew and what Michelangelo learned from his capture. I fear we may never know," Splinter said and motioned Leonardo to stand up. The turtle did so half reluctantly.

"But there is something else on your mind as well isn't it?" the old rat asked with a concerned frown.

"Yes Master Splinter… you remember… when I confessed what happened to me?" Leonardo's hand went for the scar on his cheek.

"Indeed I do," the old rat said. "You still haven't told us the full story I believe."

"I-I know Master Splinter. But you see… Michelangelo told me something." Leo sighed and looked down for a moment.

"My assailant introduced himself finally to me with my name. He called himself Leonardo and added Assassin and bounty hunter to it. He said he was my counterpart from another world," the turtle explained to his father and looked at him once more.

"Mikey… Mikey told me that this Akre, asked him if he had a brother named Leonardo. Mikey naturally answered yes. Then Akre asked him if I was an assassin and a bounty hunter. When Mike answered no, Akre mentioned something about other realities," Leo continued and his expression hardened only slightly. "Sensei… I think Akre knows my attacker."

"Hm, then it is possible he might be from the same world," Splinter said thoughtfully. His son nodded in agreement.

"Leonardo, I will not press on you any longer to tell what happened. But I will instead ask you that when you feel ready to tell me," the old rat then said, Leo bowed deeply.

"I appreciate that sensei. I will tell you, I promise. But not right now," he whispered. The elder nodded and turned to leave the dojo.

 _It will be soon I hope. I just wish some questions could be answered first._ Leonardo watched his sensei walk out of the dojo.

The turtle stroke his scar a little but then proceeded to follow Splinter out. In the living room he noticed that Raph and Braka had planted themselves on the couch watching the TV. One wrap of bandage was on his brother's knuckles.

"What's up?" Raph noticed Leo as the latter was sitting down in the armchair close to the sofa.

"Nothing much really, been thinking," Leonardo said glancing at his brother. Raphael had one arm on the back of the sofa and the other supported the rymska boy who sat in his lap.

"That not Donny's area?" the red-clad one shot grinning even wider. Leo glanced at him suspiciously. His brother was unusually chipper today.

"Pu agha," Braka pointed at the TV smiling. The turtles looked at him confused for a moment.

"Ah of course, I sometimes forget he doesn't speak English completely." Raph shook his head. "I recall his aunt telling me that pu can mean funny."

"Can mean?" Leo asked raising an eyebrow in further surprise.

"Yeah, apparently their language isn't just all words. It depends heavily on accent as well and pronunciations. One word can have many different meanings." Raphael shook his head. "Agh, I'm just repeating what she was telling Donny, this is way over my head."

"Yeah, well you know Don." Leo shook his head now smiling.

A shriek came from the kitchen and then mad laughter. Everybody looked up. Donatello peeked from his subway car. Jala came storming out of the kitchen. They could hear Mikey snickering and the woman was smiling although her eyes also held frustration.

"Jagh haeda skarta katta," she grumbled as she headed straight for the bathroom. Her dress and arms had been mostly covered in what looked like cooking oil.

"Gee, you think she is mad?" Don chuckled and disappeared back into his room. Shaking his head, Leo stood up. For a moment, he thought about checking if the rymska was all right but instead went for the kitchen.

"So what happened?" he asked when noticing Mikey on his knees cleaning up spilled greasy liquid.

"She thought the pan needed more oil," Mike was desperately trying to contain further laughter. "I reached for the bottle at the same time she did and it fell from the shelf straight on her."

"Well she came cursing you in her own language," Leonardo said. "At least I think those were curses."

"Just some well mentioned words aimed at a certain clumsy individual." Jala appeared back in the kitchen still holding a towel and drying the fur on her hands. She was still in the oil-spilled dress but had cleaned the worst off.

"Aw I knew you loved me," Mike joked standing up and skillfully throwing the cloth into the sink.

"Riiiight, now move, don't stand between a rymska and her food," she growled stalking towards the stove and the shimmering pan. Mikey sidestepped still grinning.

"Mikey can you talk with me for a second," Leo asked motioning to his brother to come. Mike shrugged and followed him out. To his surprise he wasn't just led out of the kitchen, Leonardo went to the lairs entrance ladder and the brothers didn't stop until they were far from the lair.

"Precaution, I have noticed over the week that she has a razor sharp hearing," Leo said quietly once they finally stopped in a tunnel.

"So what's up?" Mike asked a bit confused to have been dragged this far away.

"Mike, I know she is staying here for probably a while and we don't get in contact with many people. But I hope you aren't trying to do anything that you might regret later." Leonardo faced his brother, concern and worry in his face. Mike grinned slightly.

"Wha? Me? No way dude. I'm just being friendly. There is nothing going on why?" the younger turtle actually failed to maintain his grin when Leo gave him a sharp stare.

"Because she is still in emotional distress," Leo said. Then the turtle sighed looking down, his shoulder slumped slightly. Then he put one hand on Mike's shoulder.

"I just don't want you hurt Mike or our guest. She is in a fragile state and it would be unfair to put anything on her. I'm just concerned about both of you. I really was freaking out when you were kidnapped and it really bothers me that she is stuck here against her will," he said and smiled weakly.

"Hey no worries bro, I'm just going to be my normal cheery self." Michelangelo sported his grin again patting his brothers hand that lay on his shoulder. "But I sure don't like it either man, the kid should be with his own people and she as well."

"Good, we agree on that." Leo nodded. Then his brow went down in a frown. "There is also something else that really has me worried."

"What?" Mike curiously.

"You probably haven't noticed it, Don and I have though. Over this week she has been here, she has often been sneaking into the kitchen for extra bites. Not that it really matters she still eats less than any of us. Also she sometimes goes out really early in the mornings to the bathroom, and sometimes in the evenings too," the blue-masked turtle explained. Judging from the blank stare his brother was giving him, Mike wasn't figuring out what he meant.

"We think she might be pregnant." Leo lowered his voice.

"Huh? But how, she told me that the only ones she had was her brother and Braka, and well her brother's wife before she was killed." Mike was flabbergast at what Leonardo was suggesting.

"Well, maybe she broke up with whoever the father is, who knows. Maybe that is another reason she came along to search for the boy," Leo suggested.

"She has also been slightly cranky but we brushed that off as her just being depressed at having to be here. But now we are not as sure that is the case," the blue-masked ninja added.

"Man, that's deep dude, what if she is and she can't go back home? She'll be forced to raise her kid here and she already has her nephew to worry about." Mike shook his head.

"Well, all we can do is helping her as we can." Leo sighed and gestured to Mike to follow him back home to the lair.

* * *

"Dad, dad, dad," Braka came running from the room he shared with his aunt. The boy jumped into the Raphael's arms who sat on the couch.

It was a new day in the lair; Michelangelo had disappeared to help April bring this week's supplies down. Leonardo was meditating with Splinter in the dojo. Donatello was now working in his lab space, near the living room in open space. Raphael had been watching TV on the couch. Braka was newly awoken and so was Jala who quickly disappeared into the kitchen.

The turtle grinned when he kid had jumped into his arms, curled up there and joined him in watching the television, but Raphael was still slightly nervous, Jala didn't seem to have noticed Braka's nickname for him. He looked towards the kitchen. The rymska woman was still visible in the entrance.

"Ya know, I have been wondering something. I haven't really mentioned it… well…" Raph looked at Braka who stared mesmerized at the TV. "He keeps calling me dad."

"He what?" Jala turned around and looked out of the entrance surprised. She then grabbed her muzzle obviously to prevent laughter. "Oh dear, I hadn't noticed… I should have told you guys."

"What?" Raph hadn't expected the woman to almost laugh.

"He is not calling you the English word dad as in father," she said grinning nervously.

"But it is very close. He is calling you the short for dadarad. In a rough translation, it is a surrogate father figure. Most rymska children usually have many family members, they are thus taught to look at some with more respect than others, especially those who serve as fathers or a father figure. If a rymska child really trusts someone, it is taught to call him if it is a male, dadarad, or dad for short," she explained quickly when Raphael frowned. She knew that the turtle really loved the kid and didn't mind being called this.

"It's complicated I know. For rymskas the family is everything, we believe that the child should not have to look up to just one member of the family as a father but several. Although of course the real father is the father. But the others can more easily step into that role if something would happen." Jala was starting to rub her hands nervously.

"Now who would have thought Raph would get that role," Don said teasingly and received a glare from Raphael.

"It shouldn't come as a surprise; you did tell me you rescued him, twice. Braka might still be very young but he picks up very quickly." The woman stepped slowly out of the kitchen.

"Damn," was the only thing Raph said but then he frowned once more and eyed Don. "Say Donny, what is it the kid is always calling you guys?"

"Uh, Roa, I think," Donatello said but his eyes narrowed. "No, Roha."

"He calls you Roha?" Jala's eyes were now wide in shock. Then she looked at Braka who kept his eyes on the TV.

"Braka, gakh ege skarta katta, Roha?" she asked him. The boy looked at her and smiled wide.

"Jao," he said and then patted Raphael on the plastron. "Dadarad, de sir Roha Dooony re Roha Maakey re Roha Leeo re gradatat Splinta!"

"Uh, what did he say?" Don asked. Both he and Raphael eyed Jala who was stunned.

"I already explained the dadarad part," she said. Braka had resumed watching the TV.

"Then he proceeded to call you, Michelangelo and Leonardo uncles and then your father as grandfather," the rymska woman said. Raphael blinked as he took in the information. Don was surprised as well. Then the red clad turtle then shrugged and resumed watching the TV with Braka.

"I hope I didn't confuse you two." Don looked up. Jala had approached him standing right behind the purple-masked turtle.

"No, not at all," he whispered back. "I take it that your nephew has pretty much adopted us."

"I guess so. It isn't unnatural among young rymskas to do that. However, this can be so complicated. Humans I know have gotten so confused about this." The woman eyed to the living room. She noticed that Donatello was giving her a curious glance.

"Humans? You mean you know humans?" he asked surprised.

"Oh, sorry I forgot to explain. You see our species is in diplomatic contact with many human dimensions. There live humans among us as well, I know a few from where I worked," Jala shrugged. "Dimension traveling is just so natural in my world that I don't give it a second thought."

"Wow, just wow… and how do humans react around your people?" Donatello asked.

He was mostly used that humans seemed fixed on the outer appearance first, at least that was his experience. It had even taken April few minutes to realize that the turtles and the rat weren't just some animals in the sewers. She had though been quicker to accept them than he had thought she would.

"React?" Jala was taken by surprise at the question but then remembered. "Oh sorry, I forget again. Those humans I know are quite indifferent; in fact some I know are even married to other species. Interspecies marriage is so common now it's almost a fashion; we Rytonas are just as guilty of that as them."

"They don't think you are freaks or anything… well less polite?" Don's jaw dropped when the rymska shook her head.

"There are probably some, there are some human dimensions that seem to suffer from xenophobia. Especially one that has banned interspecies marriages and relationships within their world, but we don't need to… well worry like you guys." Jala lowered her head. "Sorry, didn't mean to be blunt."

"Don't apologize. I know what you are getting at; it's a fact of life for us." Donatello smiled turning back to his computer. "But it must be nice to be able to walk around so openly not to worry about ending up in a lab as a test subject."

"Yes, I really feel so…" she froze in mid-sentence and quickly grabbed her muzzle. The rymska then quickly darted off towards the bathroom. Soon they could hear the sound of someone puking her guts out in the toilet.

Donatello and Raphael shared a startled glance. Then the purple-masked turtle rose up from his lab and followed Jala. Braka as well was staring towards the bathroom, wondering why his aunt had run off like that.

"A-are you all right?" Don approached the doorway slowly; he could see the shape of the woman holding her head above the bowl. She shivered and looked on verge of crying.

"No," she managed to whisper just before more vomit came through. She made more gurgling noises before it finally stopped. "I-I…"

Donatello entered the bathroom and closed the door behind him. He looked at her questionably. His and Leo's suspicion came up again and by the looks of it, they were correct. All they really needed now was the confession.

"Look, I think I know the problem. I have never seen it, but I have read plenty about it, although it was meant for human body system. However, I know that yours is similar to them, after all I did examine your nephew. You are pregnant, aren't you?" Don leaned back to the closed door; there was a moment of no movement before Jala finally nodded.

 _Damn, damn, damn I hate being right sometimes._ Donatello felt more frustration burning through.

"The father, is he still back in your world?" He was shocked to see the woman shake her head, sadness in her face Jala looked up, tears poured down her wolfish cheeks.

"He… he is dead… you should know… your brother held him in his arms when he died," she whispered.

 _I did not just hear that._ For the second time Don's jaw dropped. "You mean… you… and Daram?"

"I lied… I'm not his sister, it was his sister that Akre kidnapped and had killed… I'm Daram's wife…I'm… I'm Braka's mother," she cried.

 **End chapter 10**

* * *

 **A/N:** Yikes, a lot of Rytonas spoken in this chapter. Here is the meagre translation, at least loosely.

 **Pu agha:** Funny person, agha can mean a person regardless of gender and species.

 **Jagh:** Can mean clumsy, though this one is used in a more joking manner.

 **haeda:** more light hearted version of Hgja, close to damn but not meant as an insult.

 **skarta katta:** the closest Rytonas have for the word 'turtle'.

 **Braka, gakh ege skarta katta, Roha?:** Direct translation really is not available, basically Jala is asking Braka if he is calling the turtles uncles.

 **Jao:** Yes

 **Dadarad:** A father figure, not the father, that's 'Pabe'. But someone called dadarad can step in that role.

 **De sir Roha Dooony re Roha Maakey re Roha Leeo re gradatat Splinta!:** Jala already explains it, but Braka is simply saying who is who, Uncle Donny, Uncle Mikey, Uncle Leo and Grandfather Splinter.

 **Gradatat:** is the grandfather. Looks like Braka likes Splinter more than his actual grandfather.

 **re:** used in the same as 'and'


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 10/12 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 11**

"Okay." Donatello was just sinking further into confusion at the sudden confession.

"I just never was a mother to him; Daram's sister adopted him from us. However, since he was still in the family Daram could still be in the role of a father. I tried to distance myself; I have tried desperately to play the role of an aunt, not a mother… I just can't be his mother." She slowly rose up shaking badly. Don was still too shocked over what he had heard to attempt comforting the sobbing woman. He just stared.

"B-but why?" he asked when he finally found his voice.

"You won't understand," she whispered holding her arms around herself.

"Try me, I might surprise you," Don challenged.

"Daram's father hated me. He blamed me for Daram being employed by Akre. He refused to accept me into the family; Daram condemned himself by being with me. I knew if I bore him a child, his father would kick him out of the family. So when Braka was born his sister took over the mother role," Jala began slowly explaining.

"Fortunately for me, his father died shortly after but by then it was too late. Daram being the oldest male rymska became the head of the family. Unfortunately, his father had known I was the real mother all along. He forced Daram to never allow me to be the mother, as this was his dying order Daram couldn't disobey and risk the whole family. That's why I am being his aunt not mother," she finished.

"Wait, wait, wait. You can't be his mother because your husband's father said you couldn't?" Donatello's jaw would have dropped to the floor if it could.

"I told you that you wouldn't understand." Jala sighed sniffling. "Family life is a very complicated matter for rymskas. Normally it isn't this complicated but it can be and I am stuck in this."

"But now Daram is dead as well, you are the only family the kid has got. He needs his mother." Don was now standing straight gesturing to the door.

"His mother is dead, Akre killed her." The rymska closed her eyes forcefully.

"No she isn't. She's standing there right in front of me. What could happen anyway? And what rights does someone have to tell you that you can't be his mother, you have every right to be," Donatello protested, but it didn't go through. Jala only glared at him wiping the tears from her cheeks and eyes.

"Like I said, you don't understand," she growled. Donatello sighed and opened the door.

"No, I guess I don't," he muttered and walked out. As he strode back to his lab space he noticed that Leo had finished his meditation and could be glimpsed rummaging through the kitchen.

"So is everything all right?" Don looked up again seeing Raph staring at him from the couch.

"Yeah sure," he grumbled and started to pick on the keyboard.

"Riiiight," Raph only shook his head and returned his attention to the TV. Shortly later Jala came walking out of the bathroom.

"Well if I'm staying here for a while I might just as well confess it, I'm pregnant," she said. Raph stared at her surprised and Leonardo appeared in the kitchen entrance. He was frowning slightly in concern.

"How long?" the blue-clad one asked. The rymska looked down, hesitating before answering.

"Probably four weeks, five at most. I am already showing physical signs, they might not be noticeable for you since you haven't seen many other rymska females," she told him.

"Well, I truly hope that we can help you deliver the child in your own world," Leo said and glanced towards Donatello who grunted.

 _No pressure,_ he thought typing madly at the computer. Aloud he said. "I'll do my best and even stress those limits."

"I appreciate you helping me trying to get home, but I am realistic and know it's not easy to start from scratch. If you feel like giving up just do so, I will just have to learn to accept it." Jala looked at Don who shrugged rather carelessly.

 _Hm, what's wrong with Don? Never seen him so… well almost snappy._ Leo stared amazed at his intelligent brother who seemed to be ready to abuse the computer with his stare alone.

The pondering about his brother's behavior was interrupted when the orange one arrived. Mikey slid literally down the ladder, still in a raincoat, fedora and holding grocery bags. The orange-masked one put the bags down looked up and gestured to the ladder grinning wide.

"Lady rymskas and gentleturtles, dudes and dudettes," he bellowed in his best announcer impersonation. Raph put a palm on his face sighing. "Let's give a hand to Miss April O'Neil."

With these words the human woman climbed giggling down the ladder. She had one bag in hand and over her shoulders were some extra clothes.

"And let's not forget, Mister Caaaasey JONES!" Michelangelo kept gesturing up as a tall dark haired man came climbing down.

"Thank you, thank you, you are too kind." The man was also holding bags grinning wide. As he stepped to the ground he held up one arm.

"Yo, what's up." he grinned.

"Yo Casey." Raph didn't even looked away from the TV but held up his hand in a semi-wave before putting it down.

"Yeah hi, whatever," came a grunting sound from Don's corner.

Leo only waved and smiled. Jala looked unsure at the two humans feeling slightly nervous, despite having met April before. Braka had relocated himself from Raph to the rymska woman.

"Here are your supplies," April said while carrying her load towards the living room. Mikey trotted behind with his. Casey was following as well but stopped short when seeing the two rymskas. However, being already used to four mutant turtles and a rat, he shook his surprise off and offered a hand.

"Name's Casey Jones," he said smiling slightly.

"Um… Jala and this is my nephew Braka." She shook his hand. The man nodded and continued with his burden to the kitchen. He didn't notice Don shaking his head when the rymska introduced herself and the boy.

"You didn't have to buy so much April." Leo frowned slightly, he really hated mooching of their friends but April only gave him a dismissal wave.

"Forget it," she said putting the bags on the table. The woman grabbed the clothes off her shoulder and headed back to the living room.

"Since you wear clothes unlike certain turtles we know, I couldn't bear the thought of you wearing the same dress day after day. So I got you some clothes in your size," she said to the rymska woman who was very surprised to hear that.

"What? Oh um… you didn't have to, I…" she didn't get further as two pair of pants and some shirts were showed into her arms.

"Feel free to rip holes in them for the tail, after all they are yours," April said smiling and used the opportunity to tickle Braka who jerked away laughing.

* * *

"So what's the story behind them?" Casey pointed back to kitchen doorway; he was helping Leo and Mike taking care of the groceries.

"The stories we could tell you dude." Mike grinned glancing outside where April was fitting one of the pants against the very unsure rymska woman. Jala looked at the article as if it would jump up and attack her.

"It all started over a week ago when Raph found the boy," Leo then recounted the basic detail on what had happened, with slight interruptions from Mikey who wanted to tell his tale as well. For a moment Casey just stood there listening.

"Whoa," he said once Leonardo had finished then shook his head. "Aliens from another dimension, you guys always leave me out of all the fun."

* * *

 _Focus on the task at hand. Damn I had no right to get irritated like that; it was not my damn business. She is an alien, not a mutant; she has different customs, ethics everything._ Don continued to try and work out any possible theory on how to travel between worlds. However, his discussion with Jala in the bathroom just kept coming back.

 _Still I can't see how it is fair. I mean what right did Daram's father have to say she can't be the boy's mother? What gives any person that right to lord over his children like that and even other people?_ He stopped typing, this wasn't getting him anywhere. It had just stunned him so much that somebody could have such a hold on someone's life and the person didn't even seem to mind it.

 _No she does mind, she wants to be his mother I could see it. It irritated her but she wants to stick to the rules of her species as well, it's tearing her apart._ Don sighed. He noticed that everybody had gathered around in the living room chatting happily. With the exception of Jala, she was nowhere to be seen. Splinter had emerged from his own mediation and was sitting in his usual chair.

"Hey bro."

Don's head jerked up and saw the grinning face of Mikey. The orange wearing turtle had snuck up behind him, which could be easy when he was deep in thought.

"Dammit Mikey." Don put a hand on his chest. "You want to give me a heart attack?"

"Sorry, just wanted to see how ya were doing. You looked like you were ready to lunge at something," Mike said. Donatello shook his head and stood up.

"I'm fine, I'm going to check on the security devices in the tunnel," he grunted grabbing for his new Bo. It was only few days old and slightly heavier than usual since the purple-masked turtle had added some layers of harder material in it. He did not want it to be hewn in two so easily like the last one.

"Want me to come with you?" Michelangelo asked.

"No," Don grunted and walked to the ladder. On his way he also grabbed up his skateboard, been a while since he used it last time.

* * *

 **Elsewhere in another world**

"Mizuri?" The woman walked in the woods carefully. Her right hand was tightly on a knife that rested in a holster on the belt, ready to be drawn up on a moments notice.

She was in a in a shirt made of white skin and her pants were made of brown. In addition, skin boots were strapped on her legs. She furtively glanced around, the woman hated to have to be so careful when meeting Mizuri but that was the only way. Humans from her village weren't even allowed in these parts.

"I'm here, my love," a voice whispered and gently a thick green-skinned hand grabbed for her weapon arm. She jumped slightly and put a hand on her chest.

"Oh Mizuri, you scared me." The woman laughed quietly. She found herself soon in the embrace of a creature that at best resembled a humanoid turtle. The creature wore no clothes at all and was much bigger than the woman.

"I guess that's what my tribe does best, scare you humans." Mizuri was smiling warmly and caressing the woman's hair. "Have I mentioned I love your head fur."

"It's called hair you Cabbat idiot and yes," she teased lightly and squirmed when his large beak like mouth started to kiss her neck.

"You love when I do that don't you," he teased back and kept 'attacking' her with his mouth while holding her firmly. She was starting to laugh hysterically, as he even started to tickle her with it as well.

However, this moment of two lovers bliss was disrupted by a low growl. Immediately Mizuri released the woman, spun around grabbing his long thick staff. The Cabbat was trembling as he faced a shadow larger than him. There was a glint of metal, the intruder held a long and broad sword.

 _Oh no._ Mizuri knew all too well who it was. He could see the stinging glare of his tribe leader and he tried to shield the frightened woman from view.

"You dare to touch a human like that?" the larger creature snarled.

Mizuri didn't respond, only held his staff fearing the worst. Then remembering his lover, he shot a glance back.

"Run, I'll hold him off," he whispered.

"No, I can't leave you," she protested drawing her knife but was harshly nudged back by the turtleoid.

"Run Dia, just run," he shouted and then the leader came swinging his sword to attack. The woman didn't move until Mizuri shoved her to the side with his staff. The other Cabbat had intended his strike for the human.

"I'll handle Alo, you just run," he yelled and diving his stick into the face of his tribe leader who snarled with more fury.

Dia had no other options and ran off hoping that Mizuri would pull through, but she knew better. She was too aware of Alo's relentless hate towards humans and had most of the tribe on his side in that issue. It didn't help that Cabbats generally in these parts had a low view on her species. Even worse, her village and two other nearby ones were under the dominance of several Cabbat tribes. They were not allowed to leave their villages except for farm work and hunting in certain areas.

The human was barely away when she heard a loud thump. Hastily she glanced back and wished she hadn't. She saw the large shape of Alo standing close to Mizuri who was huddling back.

 _No._ She turned back and kept running, tears in her face.

"Keep running human. I know what village you come from and this is just the beginning. Your fate will be worse than his," Dia heard Alo shout after her.

* * *

The woman kept running until she reached her village. People looked over curiously as Dia ran past them and right into a richly decorated cottage. In there was an old man in a monk like rope, reading a scroll.

"Master," she cried crashing to the floor exhausted. The man stood up immediately and hurried to her. He helped the sobbing woman to her feet and supported her to a chair.

"My child what is wrong?" he asked.

"Alo, I fear he may attack us," she whispered. The man's dark skinned face almost became pale when hearing the name.

"Why, we have done nothing that should bother him. We have paid our tributes to the Cabbats on time," he said but then narrowed his eyes on the woman frowning. "How do you know?"

"I… I befriended a Cabbat, Master," Dia whispered, the man dropped his jaw in surprise.

"How? When? We are too far north from the friendly southern tribes," he said.

"Six weeks ago. I was riding, but the horse became spooked and ran off straight into the forbidden areas of the forest. I fell off and sprained my ankle, a Cabbat named Mizuri…" the woman stopped and almost chocked on her words when mentioning her lover's name. But she continued. "He found me and healed me, we have been meeting after that."

"Meeting? Dia, did you lay down with him?" The man formed his frown again but it was more out of concern than anger. Dia hesitated before nodding; she covered her face in her hands and started to cry again.

"Our feelings were just too strong, the temptation was too much," she sobbed. The man sighed.

"And you were discovered by Alo himself today were you not?" he didn't even have to see her nod. "We must warn everybody, hopefully we can appease to the Cabbats not to punish the entire village."

With that he stood up and strode out of the cottage, Dia could hear him calling for the attention of the villagers. Gathering up her composure the woman rose up and prepared to walk out as well. Then she noticed the scroll and the bag full for small blue crystals on the table.

 _No, my curiosity got me involved with Mizuri,_ she thought. However, it was as if something else had possessed her and instead of turning around the woman grabbed up the bag and opened it wider to see the content.

Gingerly she picked up one crystal that started to give away soft blue light. Dia smiled at the beautiful sight, somehow it reminded her of whom she had lost today. The woman had barely brought the image of her lover up in the mind, when a light enveloped her and she disappeared out of the cottage without a trace.

* * *

 **Back in a more familiar world**

Donatello fixed up the small security camera so it was well hidden but could see through the tunnel. Satisfied he dusted off his hand and grabbed the skateboard. Then he started to ride on it heading into the general direction of the lair.

 _Everything is in working order it seems. Better head back home and try again with the more challenging stuff._ He sighed half dreading the task. Usually he loved having tough problems to solve, but he just couldn't wrap his mind correctly around this particular one.

A flashing light close by grabbed his attention and he came to a halt and froze. He quickly ducked into a side tunnel when he saw the human woman. She stood there with a small leather pouch and holding something between her fingers. The woman stared surprised and confused around, put whatever she was holding into the pouch and closed it before fastening it on her belt.

"Izala, Master Elo is going to kill me… if Alo doesn't get me first," she whispered. "How by the setting sun did I get here? And where is here?"

Donatello could easily hear her, and found her accent interesting. It didn't quite sound like any English accent he had heard. Suddenly she spun around and looked into the direction that led to him.

"Hello? Is someone here with me?" she called out. Don was slightly surprised that the woman was suspecting not being alone. He had made no noise and was well hidden.

"I can hear your breathing, it's too heavy to be something small." She reached for her knife clearly alarmed. Don held his left hand over his mouth. He was stuck since the woman was in his way towards the lair.

"I don't want to scare you." He finally addressed her hoping to stall her from advancing forward. "Just go back where you came from, you are kind of trespassing."

"I wish I could go back, but I don't know how. You see one moment I was in the cottage of my teacher and the next I am in this tunnel." The woman looked up and around.

 _Huh? No, too much of a coincidence, she couldn't be,_ Don thought, but then again she had appeared right after the flashing light had faded.

"Um, where is your teacher's cottage?" Donatello asked. Maybe if he heard locations he could determine if his suspicion was true.

"Slightly within the northwestern side of Cabbat forest of Kalaria, we are part of tri-village community under the dominion of the Cabbats. We are the only humans so far north and so close to the more violent Cabbats," she said carefully looking around trying to detect where Donny was.

 _Kalaria? Cabbats? Wait she said the only humans…? Right she is from another world, no doubt about it._ Don gulped, first the rymskas and the whole mess with them and now a human woman. He wondered what he and his brothers were heading into now. _One more test before I am sure._

"You are not in Kalaria, you are in the New York sewer system," he said, immediately noticing the confused glint in her eyes.

"New… York?" she asked. "What kind of a country is that, are you friendly?"

"Eh, New York is not a country, it's a city, well New York is really a state and New York City is the city," Don explained before remembering that she might not quite understand what he was talking about. Naturally, the expression on the woman was just more confused.

"I'm in a city?" she looked up at the tunnel roof.

"Under it actually, like I said you are in the sewer system." Don still debated whether to reveal himself. He carefully glanced back and cursed silently, the woman had started to edge herself closer.

"Please stop, you really don't want to see me. I…I am a bit unique looking. I don't want to scare you," Donatello said, the woman spotted where the voice came from. He cursed again under his breath; she knew exactly where he was although he was still hidden behind the corner.

"Please, I doubt you are any scarier looking than a furious Cabbat, beside your voice sounds too nice." The woman tilted her head. Don thought he could see glint of tears in her eyes. "In fact it reminds me of someone I knew."

"Look lady, trust me, you don't want to see me." Donatello's patience was running thin. "I don't know what a Cabbat is but I probably will put you off."

"Cabbats are one of four creatures that live in Kalaria. They are the most ferocious ones; especially the tribes living in the northern part of the forest were most of them live. In contrast to their nature they look a bit like walking talking turtles," the woman said, catching the purple-masked turtle completely off guard.

 _Did… did she say walking talking turtles?_ He thought and jumped back startled when the woman was suddenly right in front of him. She had sneaked closer. _Oh shit._

* * *

Dia froze at the sight in front of her. Trying to hide in the darkness was a creature she could not describe otherwise but as a Cabbat. It had green skin, yellowish plastron and a dark green shell. The head was large and the mouth wide and almost beaklike. The arms and legs were humanoid and muscular. The only thing wrong was the creature had only three fingers and two toes; Cabbats had four fingers and three toes.

He was wearing a purple mask encircled around his head, on the back was a long thick staff strapped to a belt. He had knee and elbow pads as well as wristbands on each wrist. Leaning up against the wall was a strange unfamiliar device, it was long and flat with four wheels on it.

The woman looked the being up and down but finally halted staring at the face, the shape and the eyes. Tears started to form.

"You… you kind of look like a Cabbat but… your… sorry for a moment there I thought you were Mizuri." she whispered and took a step forward but the creature stepped back in alarm.

"Um, I don't know who Mizuri is, but my name is Donatello," he said.

"Y-yes of course… Mizuri is someone I knew," her voice was almost inaudible.

 _Great, just great._ Donatello thought wondering how he would explain this mess to his brothers and sensei.

 **End chapter 11**

* * *

 **A/N:** Enter the Cabbats and a long string of cabbage jokes was born in the RPGs on the old SS forums.

Honestly guys, it's practically pronounced like Kappa :-D


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 11/12 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 12**

All eyes were up and on the lair entrance when they heard Donatello's voice coming from above. Wondering what the intelligent turtle was up to now.

"I'll climb first; you come behind me as soon as I touch the ground. I better brace everybody," Don said and was soon climbing down the ladder.

Leo frowned and stood up from his chair. He immediately started to walk towards his brother. Folding his arms the blue-masked turtle stopped right in front of the ladder, just as Donatello put his right foot on the ground.

"You got five seconds to explain what you are doing," Leonardo said startling the other turtle so badly that he fell from the ladder and to the floor.

"Oh dear, are you all right?" Everybody saw a young human woman in what looked like skin clothing climbing down. Her eyes were on Donatello who was rubbing his behind and standing up.

"Look Leo, I can explain," the purple-masked one said to his very unimpressed brother. The woman came down eyes still on Don but then looked at whom he had been addressing, just as Leo responded.

"Well you better."

"Oh I am so terribly sorry!" Dia cried and fell trembling to her knees. "I didn't mean for your Tribe Cabbat to cause offense. I insisted on coming. Please do not harm him, harm me instead."

The blue-masked turtle was speechless, sure reactions varied when people saw them for the first time but this was a first. He looked at Don who just shrugged having no idea how to explain this.

"Um miss, nobody caused offense and nobody is going to harm either me or you." Donatello approached the frightened woman who seemed to be trying to become one with the floor.

"Miss, I can assure you that I am not going to harm anybody," Leo said and softened his expression a bit. The woman looked up confused and bit scared. Donatello offered her a hand and a reassuring smile.

"We are very friendly, you are in no danger here," he said. Hesitantly she took Don's hand and allowed him to pull her up. Dia said no more but looked at Leonardo with fearful respect.

"Um, guys, she just came here from another world." Donatello turned to the others who all stared at him and the woman. The purple wearing turtle explained how he had found her in the tunnels from where he stood since she refused to budge, eyes still fixed on Leonardo.

"We better hear her side of the story," Splinter said from his chair. "Please child, come in, you are in no danger here."

Finally being able to tear her eyes away from Leo, the woman looked at the rat who gave her a friendly smile. She took one step forward but then looked at Leonardo.

"I think she thinks you need to give her permission," Donatello whispered to his brother recalling how she had behaved earlier. Leonardo raised an eye-ridge but then simply nodded to Dia before walking back to where he had been seated. Now Don could finally bring the woman all the way to the others.

 _Could it be she knows… the one who attacked me,_ the blue-clad turtle wondered. She hadn't been taken by surprise by their appearance and she was from another world.

"What is your name child?" Splinter asked as the woman was sitting on a stool that had been brought out for her. Don sat in a nearby chair.

"Ah… my name is Dia," she said eyeing around, half-worried at Leo, curiously at the two rymskas, startled at Raph and even more frightened at Mikey. He surprised her by smiling and waving.

"And is my son correct that you come from another world?" the sensei asked. Dia turned her attention back to him.

"That, I really don't know. I suspect it is true, you see I was warning my teacher of an immediate attack on our village and he left to warn the villagers. I found this bag here on his table." Dia un-strapped the leather pouch and held it up. "I am too curious for my own good. There are crystals in this bag that well wrapped light around me and then I was in these tunnels were I met…"

Eyes went to Don who shrugged. Splinter nodded at the story, he then held out his hand.

"May I?" he asked motioning to the bag; the woman nodded and put the bag in Splinter's hand. The elder took his time to open it and inspect the content; he didn't take up a single crystal.

"Very interesting," he said closing the bag. Braka freed himself from his aunt who had returned some time ago after changing into some of April's clothes. He ran to Splinter in hope of having a closer look at the bag. Smiling the rat gave the bag to the boy and then pointed at the woman.

The rymska boy nodded understanding, walked straight too Dia and gave the bag back. The woman smiled and caressed the boy on the head. Braka giggled and ran back to Jala whose brow was furrowing in a thought.

"Are these transporter crystals?" The attention immediately was on the rymska woman who blushed.

"I mean… I have heard about those, but they were put out of use. Too dangerous and unpredictable," she said smiling nervously.

Donatello stood up and asked for the bag, he was handed it without a question and a warm smile. The turtle ignored it as he was already opening the pouch and looking at the crystals. Carefully Don took one up and gave Dia the bag back. Don then walked to the rymska.

"Do those transporter crystals you mention look like this?" he asked showing Jala the blue material that was already starting to emit blue light.

"Donatello you should put the crystal back, it could be dangerous," the rat advised his son.

"I don't know, I have only heard of them, never seen them," Jala stared at the crystal critically.

Braka tried to reach for it, hypnotized by the blue light. His aunt tried to shoo him off and held his shoulder. The boy managed to touch Donatello's hand that was enclosing around the crystal. A flashing light blinded the room for a brief second and when sight returned, both rymskas and Don were no longer in the room. Everybody safe from Splinter scrambled to their feet in shock and surprise, staring at the spot where the three had been.

* * *

 **Dia's world**

Donatello's eyes hurt from the bright light even though it only lasted for a short while. When he could see again, he was not in the subway lair any longer. He heard a thud when Jala dropped to the ground as the couch was no longer holding her.

 _The heck?_ Don looked around seeing him and the two rymskas in a dim cottage. It was daylight but it was failing outside, the sound of battle cries and howling voices could be heard.

"Wh-what happened?" Jala hurried to her feet and grabbed hold of the startled rymska boy.

Don grabbed for his Bo staff ready to draw it as he heard the sound of metal against metal and blood curling screams coming closer. He glanced at his leg; it still had the stitches from his last battle. He had long stopped limping and hurting but too much stress and there could be trouble.

"I don't know but stay behind me. I think we landed in a middle of a battle," the turtle said drawing his weapon. He didn't notice that he dropped the crystal, the light from it died out and it skipped out of sight. The turtle couldn't worry about his leg either, the door was kicked down. In the doorframe appeared a silhouette of what looked in the ninja's eyes a mutant turtle.

"Hey we have a heretic here!" he heard the creature yell just before it advanced into the room.

 _Ok I don't want to know._ Don could see the glint of a club being raised for a strike and his Bo went swinging into action.

"Stay behind," he yelled again at the rymskas and went into full battle mode with the creature in front of him.

He managed to disarm it and then jammed his staff into its jaw trying to knock it out. The creature staggered back, shook its head then approached again growling. Donatello cringed and realized he was in for a tough fight. Then more of those large turtloids appeared.

Don kept trying to sweep, disarm, knock, kick and everything else he could think off. His opponents were larger than him and turtles by the look of it. He had to be careful not gaining to many kicks to the stomach as it would hurt too much to be worth it.

However, his opponents kept coming and were much stronger, he would soon be overwhelmed. Suddenly his staff was grabbed and jerked out of his hand. Donatello heard it clatter somewhere in the darkness. A heavy fist landed on his stomach and then he was freefalling to the ground as somebody swept his feet, next was total blackness.

* * *

 **TMNT-world**

Raphael growled grabbed for his sai and turned to Dia, quickly he was at her side and harshly grabbed the woman's arm.

"Where did they go?" he growled at the frightened human.

"Raphael," Splinter said sternly but the hot-tempered turtle didn't listen only glared threateningly at the woman.

"I don't think she is telling the whole story Master Splinter, I think she knows more than she has told," he said tightening his grip on Dia's arm, she winched in pain.

"Raphael, stand down," Splinter ordered. Raphael let go slowly but didn't take his death stare off the trembling woman. She jumped when Leonardo as well appeared right beside her. Before the woman could protest the turtle had her bag in his hand.

"I agree with Raphael, I'm not sure you are telling us the full story here," he said dryly, opening the bag and inspecting the content. _And if you work for who I think you might work for. You are going to regret it dearly._

"No, I swear I know nothing more than I have told you." Desperation was in her voice. Leo was about to hand Splinter the bag but Raphael snatched it and held it very close to the woman's face.

"What the hell are those things," he snapped, the bag was grabbed back by Leonardo.

Raphael tried to protest but his elder brother forcefully ribbed the bag from him. Nobody noticed a stray crystal leaking from the bag. It fell only short distance and somehow landed stuck on Leo's belt. Splinter was handed the bag, the old rat closed it more tightly.

"You heard my brother, what are those things?" Leo asked fixing his gaze on Dia. The woman could hardly speak being stuck between two turtles fully capable of hurting her badly. One was at least willing to do so more than the other.

"I-I really don't know… I swear, I just found them in my teacher's cottage," she whispered.

"They must be what Jala suggested, transporting crystals," April said where she was standing between Casey and very startled Mikey.

"And where do they transport too?" Leo didn't let Dia off his gaze; he was refusing to trust the woman just yet. Another brother was gone missing and this time he wasn't burdened by blaming himself. For all he knew she was even working for potential enemies. Raphael seemed to share his mind. He was fingering his sai just ready to use his weapon at the moment's notice.

"Well… I don't know… probably back home…" Dia had barely released the words when another bright flash flooded the room. This time the woman and Leo were gone. Raph's anger diminished for a second at the shock.

"Raphael, Michelangelo." Splinter was the first to recover and now he saw that his sons were in trouble. There was only one thing to do. He opened the bag and pulled out a single crystal. Quickly he put it in Raphael's hand and closed the pouch handing it as well to his red clad son. Mike was then ordered to put his hand on Raph's shoulder.

"Mr. Jones, they might need all the assistance available." The elder motioned to the two brothers who still did not understand what their master was up too. Casey's face lit up and he hurried to the two turtles. He just about managed to grab Mike's arm before the third flashing light came and now only Splinter and April were in the lair.

"Just as I thought, the crystals return the user as soon as possible to the original world." The rat frowned deeply. "I only hope that everyone will return safely."

"So she was right, they transport between worlds?" April looked at the rat who nodded. "Donatello, Miss Jala and young Braka have been there the longest, so there is no telling what might have happened."

* * *

 **Dia's world**

Leo shook his head when the flash blinded him. When he could see again he and the woman were standing in what looked like smoldering ruins of a small building. He let go of Dia's shoulder, which he had taken when asking his questions and looked confused around. In twisting around the crystal on his belt loosened off and disappeared to the ground.

"All right, now where are we?" He saw that the woman was looking around weeping.

"M-my village… Alo must have decided to punish us immediately," she stammered. Leo walked right to her frowning. He was now beginning to suspect she had been telling the truth after all. Either that or she was a very good actress.

"So we are in your world now?" he asked but he didn't get further another blinding flash interrupted them. Soon Raph, Mike and Casey were on the same spot.

"Woah dude," Mikey said when seeing his surroundings. Raph put the crystal he had been holding back to the bag. Leo wasted no word greeting the newly arrived, the blue-masked one grabbed for the bag but this time his brother didn't protest.

"Casey Jones, I'm entrusting you to the content of this bag," Leonardo said handing the pouch to the man. Casey nodded gave a thumbs up while taking the bag and stuffed it in his pocket.

"Now the question is, where is Donatello, Jala and Braka?" Raphael turned to Dia who backed away at the glare from him.

"W-well if they came here when the Alo's tribe attacked… they were probably captured and are now with them," she whispered, in the dark night Raph, Leo and Mikey looked much more frightening to her. Dia froze when Leonardo drew up one of his katana but he turned away from her and handed it to the human man.

"Here, you can use this if the needs arise," he said, Casey took the blade although he muttered something about preferring baseball bats or hockey sticks. Leo turned back to the woman.

"And now, you are going to show us the way. You will lead us to where we can find this Alo and see if he has our brother," he said plain and simply, Dia's eyes bulged out in shock and terror.

"Surely you jest, nobody approaches Alo and his tribe willingly or any Cabbat tribe in these parts at all. I'm not even allowed in those parts where they are," she whispered and backed one more step when Raphael approached growling.

"Well if what you said is correct. That this Alo attacked and our brother and our two friends were transported here. Then I'm afraid we must go to him and see if he has them. We have no choice in the matter; our duty is to help our brother as well as the rymska woman and her nephew. They are under our protection while they live with us," Leo intentionally raised his voice slightly; he was slowly losing his patience. He was not going to allow another of his brothers to suffer at the hands of an off world enemy.

* * *

Donatello groggily woke up and felt warm air close by him. Slowly opening his eyes, he could make out the flickers of a flame. He was lying close to burning fire. Huddled close to him were Jala and Braka, the woman held her nephew tightly eyeing nervously around.

"All right the heretic is awake," said a growling voice. Don suddenly saw a familiar looking pair of feet stand in front of him, just each foot had three toes instead of two. He looked up and stared straight into a grinning face of what looked like a turtle, just there was no mask.

"Had a nice night, little puke?" the turtle creature snarled and grinned wider. Don then noticed that similar creatures, so far all males by the looks of it, surrounded him and the rymskas.

"It's still night," Donatello commented and was kicked harshly in the head by the creature in front of him.

 _Ow, that hurt._ Don grabbed his cheek where the kick had landed and closed his eyes tight in pain.

"Yes, that's just the beginning of your sufferings you little heretic. You and your tribe will pay dearly for befriending the humans in the tri-villages." The turtleoid was kneeling now in front of him.

 _Tribe?_ Donny dared himself to look back up although it was unnerving to look at that grinning gaze. He noticed an ugly scar going over the creature's cheek and down to the throat. That was very familiar.

"But we will talk later, right now me and my boys are a bit tired after destroying your friends village." The turtleoid stood up and used the opportunity to give Don another kick this time in the shoulder.

Donatello gritted his teeth in pain but quickly ignored it when he heard Jala shriek beside him. A turtleoid had grabbed her and another was grabbing the now screaming rymska boy. Donatello tried to rise to aid them but two creatures appeared behind him and pinned him down.

"Hm." he heard the creature with the scar say but he was too far away from the fire to see. "Take that sweet looking thing to my hut. I think I better speak to her privately. Chain the boy somewhere where the children can play with him and chain up the heretic in a prisoner hut. Accrel, I'm putting you in charge of that particular prisoner, don't fail me like our brother did."

Don had no chance to register what was going on, he heard Jala scream in protest and Braka shriek. However, he could do nothing as the turtle was dragged away from the fire and towards a small building made of wood. He tried to jump up hoping to fling his captors away, but they were stronger than he had anticipated. All he succeeded in doing was now being carried by four turtleoids.

 _Great just great… wait was he referring to Jala by that sweet thing remark…_ Don looked up. There was just enough light to make out where the rymska woman was being dragged screaming and kicking to a hut.

"I warn you, if any of you touch a hair on that woman or her child…" Don began to growl.

"You are in no position to make threats heathen," was snapped at him and one of his carriers slapped him hard.

Donatello tried to struggle once more. He didn't give up until he was harshly flung forward and crash landed with a wall. While disoriented by that he could feel his arms being forced behind his back and tight chains put around his wrists.

* * *

Jala was sitting upright and tightly up against a wall staring frightened at the large turtleoid that stood right in front of her. The light was still too dim for her to see but her sense of smell clearly told her that these weren't turtles like her four friends. These were like her, aliens that just happened to have animalistic body.

Another turtleoid could be seen behind the one standing in front of her. These were the same and had dragged her into the hut. They were guarding her, making sure the woman didn't try and escape.

"Alo is right, she is a sweet thing to look at," she heard the one in the back whisper to his comrade.

"Yeah, looks a bit like a Lupinar, just thinner and smaller," said the closer creature smirking.

"Bit much hair on her though for my taste."

"Well that wouldn't matter anyway, Alo has her, he claimed her. After all, it was he who knocked out her mate. Damn that heretic put up a fierce fight; I have never seen such fighting before."

 _Wait, they think Donatello is my mate?_ Jala gulped. She doubted that would play in her favor. No doubt they would use her against the turtle. A door opening interrupted the discussion as someone entered.

"All right boys, go and have fun outside. I have allowed few rounds of mead for this occasion." Jala recognized the growling voice that had been talking shortly before with Donatello.

Cheering the guards left her and the woman now saw only one turtleoid that walked immediately to her. She felt sick in her stomach at the sight of the grin and the greed in his eyes.

"You can really start to worry about your mate. He will be properly punished for befriending the humans from the village. He better squeal out what tribe he belongs to so they can be punished as well," he said as he knelt in front of her. Jala didn't dare to speak.

"Your child will belong to the tribe's children now. They have needed a new pet for a while, he fits just fine," the turtleoid continued and his expression just continued to make Jala feel extremely sick. She froze when suddenly a large hand took hold of her leg and suddenly she was pulled towards him.

"And you, you belong to me now."

* * *

Donatello could hear the scream all the way to his prison. He recognized Jala's voice. However, the scream was put to stop abruptly. Then he heard begging in a language he knew belonged to the woman.

 _That filthy…_ Don stood up and decided to test the strength of his chains, but a sharp whack on his head reminded the turtle that he wasn't alone in the hut. Nearby was the turtleoid that was set to guard him.

"Keep still heretic, you aren't going anywhere," his guard growled.

"I warned you not to touch her." Don fixed a cold case on the creature that only shook his head laughing.

"Yeah? And what are you going to do about it, shut up and safe your strength. You'll need it for tomorrow when Alo will personally tear out of you where your tribe is hiding."

Don fell to his knees; he could no longer hear the begging. Jala had stopped shouting but the turtle had no doubt she was continuing in a lower voice. He hung his head and fell to his knees.

 _I hope the others will find us quickly, this is one problem my brain is currently not capable of solving without aid._ The turtle was gritting his teeth.

 **End Chapter 12**

* * *

 **A/N:** Mostly for my benefit, as I kind of need to be consistent on how the turtles look for each incarnation in the assassin series, as it plays an important part of identifying who is who. The Movie turtles are all taller than the 2k3 toon turtles during the events of this story, since it supposed to happen at the same time and "When the assassin strikes." Leo and Raph are 5'6'' Don is 5'5'' and Mikey is 5'4''


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 15/12 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 13**

"How long will this take?" Leonardo asked. He sighed when the woman hesitated and glanced at him fearfully. She had been quite frightful of him since the turtle had pretty much ordered her to lead them. They were walking in the front; behind them were Raph and Mikey. Casey guarded the back.

"Look, I am not going to hurt you. However, I am a bit agitated that my brother and our friends are gone missing. Just around a week ago almost the same thing happened except the going between worlds part. So I ask again, how long?" Leo said, trying to sound a little gentler.

 _In addition to what happened to myself,_ he added in his mind.

"The edge of the forbidden areas is just an hour walk away from my village. But from there I don't know. No humans from the tri-villages haves seen Alo's village and lived to tell the tale," she finally answered.

"And who is this Alo?" the turtle wondered.

"H-he is the tribe leader of one of the tribes that dominate the tri-villages. But he is very famous in the entire area and respected. The largest Cabbat tribe in these parts is named after his father, Alo the Elder. He hates humans deeply, but then again most Cabbats around here are hostile against humans," Dia explained glancing once more at Leo who was frowning as he digested this new information.

"What are Cabbats?" Mikey asked before either Leo or Raph had a chance too.

"Well…" Dia looked at each of the three turtles unsure what to say. "They look bit like you three. That is, like big walking turtles, just they have more fingers and toes, Cabbats are bigger as well. There is also a slight difference in the shape of the shell and plastron."

She stopped when the turtles and Casey did, all staring at her completely dumfounded.

"Woah, deep," Mikey said. Raph was scowling while processing this tidbit, Leonardo looked thoughtful and Casey looked at each of his mutant friends.

"Damn," was the only thing he muttered. He looked slightly amused at the thought that there existed bigger and meaner versions of the turtles, or at least relatives.

"Would you say that we look too different to be mistaken for Cabbats?" Leonardo asked with hands on his hip. Dia examined him from where she stood and then shook her head.

"W-well no, I mean, Cabbats in the south look differently than here in the North. As well you can say you were simply born different. Things like that happen," the woman shrugged smiling nervously. All eyes were now on the blue-masked turtle.

"What's the plan Leo?" Raphael asked. His brother looked at him with a very serious expression.

"I think we should avoid unnecessary confrontation. Since our looks are this time in our favor, we might be able to walk into the village and claim our missing people. That will be plan A, we all know plan B," Leonardo explained.

"Yeah, plan B, kick anything that moves and get everybody out of there." Raph grinned.

"You three can easily enter the village but we humans can't, we would be slaughtered on sight," Dia said and pointed at Casey who raised his eyebrows.

"Well, we won't leave either of you here. There is no chance a human would be following a Cabbat?" Leo noticed the hesitation on the woman. It was not out of fear or thinking how to answer, she didn't want to answer that question.

"Well?" Raphael approached with a threatening stare. He had seen the same thing and his brother. Leonardo held out his hand in signal for his brother to calm down.

"Y-yes actually… there are few circumstances," she muttered.

"One if a Cabbat tribe is friendly towards humans, but we are much too far north for that to be tolerated, another one is…" Dia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Slavery."

"Slav…" Leonardo fell silent for a moment to regain composure. "Slavery is acceptable here?"

"Great," Raph grunted when the woman nodded.

"Whoa hold on, I'm not going to be a slave." Casey held out his hands in protest.

"It would seem to be our only option to protect you two." Leonardo turned towards the man.

"Wait, they can't enslave us can they?" Mikey peeped half worried.

"Cabbats won't, others of the three creatures could," Dia said but her voice was low. "A Cabbat does not kill another Cabbat… as far as the stories tell."

"But you are not sure," Leonardo stated turning back to the woman.

"I'm not sure about anything any longer. I did see a Cabbat kill another Cabbat," she said staring into the night. "I saw when Alo killed his brother Mizuri."

The silence was deep, Leonardo's frown changed into worry. If this Alo was so cold to kill his own brother, then he really feared for Donatello.

"You are talking about the same guy and attacked your village?" Raph asked unsure, his face hardened even further when Dia nodded.

"He killed his own brother? Dude." Mikey was visibly shocked holding one hand flat on his chest.

"Ok, let's continue, we must then find his village fast." Leonardo shook his head when realizing that they had been standing for a while. They continued onwards led by the woman.

* * *

 _One of four creatures… like walking talking turtles… Cabbats…_ Donatello's eyes opened wide and for a moment, he had little recollection where he was. Then the unfriendly chains tying his hands behind the back reminded him.

 _When did I fall asleep?_ Don lay flat on his stomach on the dirt floor. Daylight was slowly starting to edge itself in from the window.

The turtle rose up on his knees with some difficulties. He noticed the guard sitting on a worn wooden stool near the door. The Cabbat stared at him smiling strangely; the eyes also had an interesting stare. There was no malice in the creature's face, no hate or anything.

 _He looks more like he… um how shall I put it, like he's not completely there._ Don decided to ignore the guard since no word had been spoken. Carefully he managed to stand up and started to inspect his surroundings.

 _Wooden house, the wood doesn't look very strong. I bet I could bust through if I wasn't tied up at the moment, ooh Raph would kill me for that pun. One window, one door currently guarded by a giant turtleoid, bigger than me and probably stronger too._ Acting carelessly Don eyed the window, then walked to it and peeked out.

The village was coming alive as morning was rising. The turtle was only slightly surprised that he could see clearly the difference between female and male Cabbats. The women had features that could not be described otherwise but as feminine. Their carapaces were also smaller and flatter than the males who all were bulky and strode with heavy footsteps.

He noticed some children grouping together close to one of the huts. Frowning Don peered as close as he could and ground his teeth when he saw what was going on. Braka was tied by the neck with a long chain to a pole. The Cabbat children stood around him, poking and prodding the frightened boy. Donatello also noticed some adults standing nearby, probably supervising although they only stood, stared and laughed.

 _He's tied up like a dog, like just some pet for the amusement of the children._ Don felt anger rise in him. He glared at the guard.

"You realize that he is just a child? He's only five years old and you tie him up like a damn beast?" the turtle snapped but the guard didn't answer; only grinned wider.

 _Right, talking about arguing with a brick wall, I'm not even sure it got through his ear holes._ Don looked out of the window again and felt a slight tinge of relief.

One of the children was now holding Braka rather protectively and fending off the other kids. He couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl but the young Cabbat seemed to have some authority. His or hers playmates started to keep their distance. The turtleoid sat down with the rymska boy rocking him gently and caressing him on the head.

 _I hope that last for a while, I can handle the abuse but I doubt Braka would survive for long…_ Don froze in his thoughts as he then remembered Jala.

Like on cue the door swung open and the guard was forced to stand up and walk away from it. Donatello turned away from window to see who had arrived. He felt uneasy when seeing it was the scarred Cabbat. Now in the light he could see how large he was.

"Feeling ready to talk?" Alo stepped closer wearing the same grin Don had seen last night.

"Depends on what you want to talk about," Donatello said calmly. A large four-fingered hand gripped his shoulder and squeezed, the turtle winched at the pain.

"To start, what tribe do you come from?" Alo growled and kept his iron lock on Don's shoulder.

"I'm afraid I can't answer that," the purple-clad one said and cursed in his mind as the Cabbat leader squeezed the shoulder even more.

"Wrong answer," he snarled and let go.

Don's relief was short lived as an enclosed fist flew straight into his face. The turtle's head snapped to the side. He felt dizzy and the jaw roared in pain, he could taste blood.

"What tribe do you belong to?" the Cabbat snapped and raised his hand ready to hit Don again.

"None." The turtle decided that it was no real secret anyway.

"You were kicked out?" There was a hint of amusement in Alo's voice. Donatello only shrugged hoping this would gain him some time and maybe acquire some information.

"Guess your leader didn't like it that you were tangled up with that thin excuse for a Lupinar," Alo roared in laughter. Donatello made no attempt to correct him.

"So you belong to no tribe, mated with that gangly creature and have that boy too and…" the tribe leader suddenly halted in his self-amusing speech. He was looking more attentively at Don, the grin vanished and the brow sunk in a deep frown.

"And you don't look like any Cabbat I've ever seen before," he growled.

 _And you don't look like any turtle I have ever seen,_ the turtle thought. Alo backed to the guard who was standing and watching with his strange smile and almost vacant stare.

"Tell me Accrel, is it just me or is this a bit odd looking Cabbat?" the leader looked at the guard. Don was surprised to see Accrel's eyes suddenly focus and the face actually showed genuine serious expression.

"Ah… now that you mention it, yes he does look strange." Accrel tilted his head. The voice had an accent in it that Don wasn't sure about. Alo growled something and walked back to the prisoner. Forcefully the Cabbat ripped of his purple mask and threw it to the ground.

"Well I'll be cursed, what kind of a Cabbat by Dular are you supposed to be?" Alo examined Don closely now. He even went as far as turning him around to examine the carapace and his tied up hands. Donatello had to endure some more poking and prodding from the leader before Alo finally stepped back.

"Doesn't matter, he looks Cabbat enough." The Cabbat decided and assumed his disturbing grin again. "Now before we forget ourselves and you become too comfortable. Where did you acquire this strange mate of yours?"

 _Hm, they think Jala is my mate; maybe I can play that out…_ Donatello was disturbed in his train of thoughts with a hard slap from Alo.

"Answer heretic," he snarled.

"My name is Donatello, not heretic," Don said but the tribe leader didn't seem very impressed. "As for your question, it's none of your business."

Another hit and this time it was the enclosed fist again. The turtle felt defiantly sore now on the cheek and was surprised that his teeth were all still intact. A kick landed on his plastron resulting in Don landing harshly on his behind.

"You are going to learn that when I ask, you answer," Alo snarled. "What were you doing in the human village?"

 _We kind of just stumbled on it because of some weird crystals,_ Donatello thought but figured that it would take more than that to make the brute believe him. _And he will probably not believe that we were being held prisoner. After all they attacked me first and I fought them and didn't try to stop._

Donatello was again interrupted in his thinking when a three-toed foot kicked him in the stomach. He grunted in pain and lay down on the side. Alo stood now right over him. The turtle was a bit surprised that the Cabbat did go for the shell in his hits and kicks. But then again this was a much stronger creature.

"Your sufferings will only increase if you remain stubborn on answering," he threatened.

"I'm not being stubborn… it's you who are being impatient for me to open the mouth." Don regretted the remark the moment it was out because Alo kicked him again. _That REALLY hurt._

"What have you done with my wife and child?" Donatello demanded playing slightly the part the Cabbat had given him. When there was nothing but silence the turtle dared himself to look up, Alo wasn't grinning but smiling smugly.

"Don't worry about your mate, she is being well taken care of," the tone in the leader's voice gave Don goose bumps.

 _Well taken care of. Right I heard it from here, her screams and pleas._ The ninja tried to rise up again but Alo forced him down by putting his foot on his chest.

"She was a little feisty but after few hits she learned to be silent and stop the futile struggling," the Cabbat continued. The turtle felt his anger rise again and he glared at the brute pinning him down.

 _No, angry words won't get me anywhere but more smacking or kicking. Despite I have few well-chosen ones for this creep,_ Donatello thought hating more and more the smug smile on Alo. In fact the large turtleoid was very low on his list of favorites right now.

"Are you going to answer my questions? Where did you find that creature you call your mate? What were you doing in the human village?" Alo repeated.

"Oh well if you must know, we come from another world. You see we both originate from a different reality…" Don's attempts simply to tell the truth were cut short by a kick. Alo kneeled down in front of him growling threateningly.

"Do I look like a child to you, save the nighttime tales," he snarled.

 _Thought as much, no it's too farfetched for him to believe we come from another dimension._ Donatello just glared back at him. "Release my wife and child and maybe I'll be a good boy and tell."

"Tell me and I'll think about releasing your child but you are going to have to do something better to have your mate free," Alo countered grinning once more. Donatello didn't answer; he had a gut feeling that the Cabbat wouldn't even bother releasing either Braka or Jala anyway. The tribe leader stood up.

"I'll be generous and allow you to think about it. You have a day, use it well." The Cabbat then finally left the hut leaving Don with Accrel.

 _If you were generous, you would let us go._ The turtle shook his head and somehow managed to stumble back to his knees. His guard was again sitting by the door but he wasn't paying as much attention as he should have, the Cabbat was staring at the floor.

 _Let's see._ Don looked around and noticed the metal pole his chain was linked too. _It's buried down in the ground._

Carefully the turtle edged himself to the pole. Accrel paid him no mind. Don managed to sit right in front of the long metal object with his back turned towards the pole. His tied up hands grasped it and carefully the turtle tested it and felt the object loosen slightly. He fought back the temptation to smile in satisfaction.

 _Things might just be looking up right now,_ he thought.

* * *

Braka was safe for the time being. The Cabbat girl that had suddenly started defending him and attempted to soothe the frightened boy was still with him. She made sure that no other child could come too close with any malicious intentions.

This was though no ordinary girl and the fearful respect the other children had for her was well earned. She looked up when a large shadow fell on her and Braka were they sat; the girl still had the boy in her arms.

"Why don't you allow others to play with him, Kolaza?" Alo asked softly, smiling warmly at her. The girl hugged the rymska tighter.

"Because he is afraid, the others will be mean to him. I will not allow it," she said simply staring at the large Cabbat respectfully.

"Well if you are going to claim him I won't say anything against it. But you will have to take care of him, he will be your responsibility," Alo explained. "And don't lose him. You are maybe my brother's daughter but I will not refrain from punishing you if you do."

"Yes Tribe Leader Alo." Kolaza nodded. The male Cabbat smiled wider and patted the girl on the head before heading for his hut.

She let go of the boy and quickly took the chain that held Braka off the pole. Carefully the young Cabbat helped the boy to stand and took the chain off his neck.

"Come, let's go for a walk," she said smiling and took Braka's right hand and led him away from the pole.

Kolaza pulled the boy out of the village and they headed for the woods that surrounded it. Braka could only wonder what was going on. He still didn't speak well enough in their language nor understood it properly. His young mind knew only one thing; this girl was being nice to him in the absence of the others he loved.

"It's all right for us to play in the forest. There are no dangerous animals and nobody else comes to the forest. Tribe leader Alo sees to that," Kolaza explained to the rymska as they stepped in between the trees. None of the other children had followed from the village. Some weren't allowed and others didn't care where they were going.

Braka felt her grip on his tiny hand drop. He was now just walking behind her. However, the rymska didn't bolt away. Not that the boy knew that escape might prove fatal, but rather he was starting to trust Kolaza. In a childish belief, he thought she was maybe taking him home.

"My father's healing hut is here nearby," the girl whispered to the boy. "He likes to have it excluded from the village and especially Alo. He hates Alo and thinks he is too violent and brutal."

"I haven't seen father though for almost a day now. He sometimes went off, never explained why," she continued having no idea that the younger child behind her didn't understand her.

"We have to go a little further, I have a secret spot there where I store my treasures," she whispered as if the girl feared that others were listening.

The continued the walk but Braka started to feel very tired after a while. Now that he was away from the poking and prodding children, laughing and menacing turtleoids, his fright was subsiding. Now in a company of somebody he felt he could trust. Then a familiar scent reached his nose.

Kolaza felt something wrong, it was as if something was staring at them. She looked around but saw nothing but trees and other associated flora. The young Cabbat also noticed that the rymska had all perked up and was looking franticly around.

Suddenly two large hands grabbed the girl, one her shoulder and the other went over her mouth before she could scream. Another pair grabbed for the rymska boy and both children were whisked away into the nearby thicket leaving no trace left of them.

 **End chapter 13**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 18/12 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 14.**

Braka was ready to scream in fright as he was grabbed up and pulled away, but before he knew it the boy was turned and stared right at very relieved Raphael.

"Dadarad!" Braka gasped then smiled and flew into the turtle's arms. The ninja picked the boy up hugging him tightly.

"Hello kid, good to see you too," Raph said smiling wide.

The rymska had his tiny arms tightly around his neck and spoke franticly in his native language. The turtle turned to see where Leo held the girl who struggled fiercely in his hands. Mike, Casey and Dia then came walking as they had been waiting further away. The orange clad turtle grinned wide when seeing the boy with his brother.

"Who is this?" the human man asked pointing at the Cabbat child.

"Somebody who was escorting Braka for some reason," Leo said. He and Raphael had been scouting a little ahead when spotting the children. Both had been surprised to see the rymska boy free. The turtle kneeled and turned the girl around but still held his hand over her mouth.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I'm going to let go but do not run away. We want to know why you were in the company of this boy," Leonardo spoke to her calmly. Kolaza had stopped struggling when seeing the turtle. Carefully he removed his hand and let go of her arm.

"W-Who are you?" she whispered.

"My name is Leonardo and my friends and I area looking for Alo and his tribe. We believe Alo has both my brother and a friend of ours captive, are you from his tribe?" the turtle asked, Kolaza nodded without hesitation. She then pointed to Braka who still didn't let go of Raph.

"Alo also came with him when bringing the prisoners last night. He gave him to the children of the tribe to play with." She probably would have smiled but jumped when hearing the growl coming from Raph.

"He gave him to the children to play with," he repeated sneering. Kolaza eyed him nervously but Raphael kept calming down the boy, ignoring the girl.

"What were you doing with him here in the forest?" Leo asked turning the girl back to face him.

"I… I felt sorry for him… and kept the other children away from him… I took him here to see my secret spot in the woods," she explained. Leo nodded and then stood up.

"Well we are taking the boy back. He does not belong to you or any of your friends. He belongs to his aunt who is now your tribe leader's captive, we are taking him back," he said. Kolaza didn't say a word. The girl knew she would have little say in it. Braka was happy in Raphael's arms, clearly indicating where his loyalties lay.

"We have the boy now but we can't take him back to the village can we?" Mikey asked frowning and dropped his usual grin. Leo eyed in his direction nodding and then looking at Casey.

"Casey, the bag." He held out his hand. The man pulled up the leather pouch out of his pocket and threw it to the turtle.

"How do these work?" Leonardo looked at Dia who shook her head.

"Really, I am telling you the truth I don't know," she said sounding a little frustrated.

"Hey maybe they work with thoughts. I saw this show once where these magic orbs were used and they worked by holding them and thinking about something," Michelangelo chimed in grinning wide, all eyes were on him. Leonardo's brow rose as an idea hit him. Again he turned to the woman.

"When you came to our world, what were you thinking about?" he asked.

"Ah… I was thinking about somebody I knew…" she stopped and hung her head whispering the last words. "Someone I loved."

"Hm, maybe the thought work was wrong," Mikey scratched his head.

Leo held out his hand towards him shaking his head. He then glanced back at the woman. Kolaza in the meantime tried to use this opportunity to sneak away but was stopped by a firm grip on the shoulder. Raphael shook his head at her.

"My brother Donatello, who said that you appeared right in front of him, did he remind you of somebody?" he asked the woman.

"Y-yes… he reminded me of… him… even though he didn't look like… my…" the woman stopped, she feared what would happen if she uttered the next word. "Lover, Mizuri."

No one noticed the shocked expression arrive on Kolaza who stared, jaws dropped, at the woman. All eyes were on Dia. Casey raised his eyebrows but the turtles looked mildly surprised. Braka was eyeing around still hugging Raphael tight. He was not letting go anytime soon.

"Your lover? Mizuri is a Cabbat right?" Leo asked for confirmation. This had been interesting to hear, a human really being in love with another species? Sure he had seen something like that in those sci fictions shows he sometimes had to endure, but Mikey and Don watched almost religiously, but in real life?

"Was, I told you that I saw Alo kill him," she whispered.

"You lie!" The attention turned to the angry little voice. Kolaza stared at the woman with fury in her eyes.

"My father would never touch a human and not even Alo would kill another Cabbat!" she shouted struggling against Raphael's shoulder grip.

"Father… oh my you are his daughter Kolaza?" Dia gasped holding hands over her mouth. This stopped the girl's attempt to escape; surprised she stared at the woman.

"He told me about you; how you were his pride and joy in life. He really feared that Alo would influence you too much." the woman approached. "But you must believe me. I saw your tribe leader run his sword through your father."

"No." The girl shook her head, apprehension in her face. "Cabbats are not like you humans. We don't murder each other."

Leonardo stopped Dia from coming to close and gave her a signal to wait. He then opened the bag and took up a crystal. He handed it to Raphael and took over from his brother holding Kolaza.

"Let's see if this work," Leo said bringing up the original topic. "Now try thinking about the lair."

Raph eyed the now glowing crystal and then at Braka who he held now just with one arm. Then he brought up the image of the subway lair in his mind and in a bright flash later, he was gone.

"Y-you think it worked?" Mikey stared at the spot where his brother and the boy had been. Kolaza's eyes were open wide in wonder at the scene. They waited for full ten minutes until in another flash Raphael return. The red-masked one shook his head as in some short of discomfort. He managed to hand Leo the crystal who put it back in the bag and threw it to Casey who stowed it away in his pocket.

"April will take care of the boy, oh and I brought this." Raph threw a baseball bat to the man who caught it eagerly and gave Leo immediately the katana back. "Figured you would want something more like that."

"Oh you know me to well man." Casey grinned swinging the bat bit with firm grip.

"Now that everybody is armed and ready, we are going to attempt first to demand the release of Don and Jala," Leo said then looking at the Cabbat girl who was scowling at Dia. "And you are going to show us the way."

"Why should I?" she demanded. The girl glanced back when Raphael kneeled behind her with a wide grin.

"If you don't, Unca Raphael is going to spank you so hard that you won't be sitting for few months," he said with a sadistic voice.

Leo fought back the urge to tell his brother off. Intimidation was maybe just what they had to use to have the girl cooperate. Kolaza turned to Raphael with a hardened face.

"That's all, don't make me laugh I have been punished with worse," she said challenge in her voice. The girl was daring the red-masked turtle with the glare.

"Hm all right what if I spank you into the next month and then lock you inside that small hut we found earlier," Raph countered smirking when he saw the fearful glint in her eyes. "You don't like being locked in do you?"

* * *

Donatello fought back the urge to chuckle. He could feel the pole coming completely loose and the turtle could slide it out of the hole at any time. The guard was pacing around and seemed to be waiting for something.

 _Its metal, iron I think. A bit shorter than the usual Bo staff but heavier. Still it's useable, I just need to get my hands in front._ Don knew the move needed to bring his hands from behind the back and could do it swiftly. He just needed it to be darker outside so the guard wouldn't notice it and stop him before being able to utilize his new weapon.

The door opened and another Cabbat came in, unfamiliar to Don's eyes. He exchanged some words with Accrel who then swiftly left the prison. The newly arrived took position by the now closed door.

 _Ah, guard exchange, I was wondering when that would happen._ Donatello started to examine his new 'companion'. _A bit smaller and not as bulky, probably younger._

Then he heard voices from the outside, glancing at the guard he stood up and sneaked to the window. His eyes widened as he saw his three brothers standing close to where the fire would be started in the evening. Behind them were Casey and Dia with their heads hung. The humans tried not to make eye contact with all the Cabbats who gave them nasty glares. Leonardo was talking with Accrel but Don couldn't hear what it was. Soon the Cabbat left the turtles, heading for Alo's hut.

 _Wait a minute, isn't that the girl who had Braka?_ Donny could see the young Cabbat being held firmly at the shoulder by Raphael. Her head was hung and occasionally she rubbed a sore behind.

* * *

The quintet stared as the large Cabbat came out of the hut followed by the smaller one Leo had spoken too earlier. Mikey blinked, Raph only raised an eye ridge in slight surprise. Leonardo had a determined face, not showing how he felt at seeing this towering creature.

"What do you want here?" Alo growled as he came closer. He then noticed the young girl. "Why do you have my brother's daughter?"

"We came to demand the release of your two prisoners," Leonardo said. "One is our brother wearing a purple mask. Another is a wolfish woman called a rymska."

"Your brother and his mate are being punished for meddling with humans," Alo growled. Mikey was about to say something but Raph darted up his hand putting the palm over his mouth. In the process, he let go of Kolaza who ran off immediately right into Accrel. The Cabbat grabbed her up and carried the girl away.

"It's not yours to punish them for their actions, that would be our duty," Leo said sternly.

* * *

Don watched as the voices rose, he could hear that they were demanding for him and Jala. Alo naturally wasn't going to let his prisoners go at all, especially his prize in his own hut. Few of Cabbats were now approaching ready with various weapons.

The purple-clad ninja heard the door open and saw that the guard was standing in the frame to look at the scene outside. Donatello almost jumped in glee at this opportunity. Swiftly he bent down, managed to slide his hands down his shell and under his behind. As he jumped, the turtle thrust his tied up hands forward and now they were in front.

The guard had not heard this at all. Grinning wide now the turtle grabbed up the metal pole. It was longer than he had thought but still shorter than his usual wooden staff. It would be tricky fighting with his hands tied up but doable. Grabbing up his purple mask that still lay on the floor he somehow managed to put it back on. Then in his mind as Don approached the guard, the turtle thanked Master Splinter many times for their training.

* * *

Battle was about to erupt, Alo was not letting any prisoners go and by the looks of it was preparing to take some more. Many Cabbats approached weapons drawn, the turtles reached for their own weapons and eyed around. Casey reached for his bat and Dia was staring to feel for her knife.

"Guys, remember Tokka and Razzor?" Mike eyed nervously around. "Isn't this a bit like being surrounded by fifty of them?"

Leonardo stared Alo right in the eyes with determination, but he heard his brother. _Yes I remember those two mutants the Shredder made, but they were also dumb and slow. These guys are clearly intelligent._

A sword flew in the air and it landed right in Alo's hand. The Cabbat immediately raised it and hew at the blue wearing turtle. Swiftly Leonardo drew up both katana and blocked the heavy blow. His face grimaced. This had been very heavy. His opponent was very strong.

* * *

 __ _Leonardo grimaced as his carapace slammed up against the wall. He fell to his knees, breathing heavily. He had lost his grip on one sword and barely held the other. He heard his attacker approach. For someone that was shorter than him, he was horribly strong._

 _"I must admit, I kind of was hoping you would be more of a challenge," the chilly voice addressed him with a mocking chuckle._

 _"Maybe…" Leo struggled back to his feet. He glared at the black clad turtle standing in front of him, holding a black handled katana. "If…if you haven't been… trying to hunt me… all day… maybe… I would…"_

 _But the other turtle didn't answer, just grinned and readied his katana. Then the black-clad one charged. Leonardo cringed but somehow managed to raise his sword and block the attack._

* * *

The Cabbats charged, Raphael whisked up his sai and spun them skillfully as he charged into the approaching turtleoids. Mikey swung his nunchakus and followed his brother. Casey lifted the bat and Dia was now with her knife in hand.

The turtles realized they had one main advantage in this fight. The Cabbats had no intentions to kill them, merely wanted to bring them down alive. Leo noticed this especially when Alo refrained from swinging his sword at vital areas and often tried to use the flat as a club to knock the turtle out. Leonardo just about ducked from another swing.

* * *

 _Leonardo was pretty sure this turtle was going to kill him. He was bleeding all over, the edge of his carapace was chipped on places and the ninja was getting too tired continue._

 _"I really don't have much time to be here. I only took this training run as a detour. I'm actually keeping an eye on another of our counterpart and his brothers," the black-masked turtle said casually as he landed a kick on Leo. The blue-clad one was thrown back and landed harshly on the pavement._

 _"T-Training run?" Leonardo hardly could believe his ears. "This is just a training run for you?"_

 _"Met them last year, but things didn't turn out quite like I had wanted. I guess I did the mistake of underestimating them. This is why I have been keeping an eye on them and studying them a little more closely. Just so I won't get in the same fix as last time," the black-clad attacker continued as if he hadn't heard him._

 _"Y-you're sick," the blue-clad one snarled and tried to rise up once more._

 _"You have no idea," the other turtle chuckled evilly and charged._

* * *

Leonardo frowned and shook his head at those memory flashbacks. He was definitely not going to lose again. This wasn't even a counterpart. The only thing they had in common was the scar on their cheeks. Ignoring his memories, the turtle continued to fight Alo.

The Cabbats had no experience fighting swift agile turtles that were skillful in the art of ninjitsu. Raphael was quick to find the weak spots on the large hulking turtleoids, the neck. A good solid kick there and the creatures where crashing down gasping for air. However, that wasn't always good enough; the Cabbats were after all very large and much quicker in movement than their appeared.

Mikey noticed that the fight might be slightly easier than he previously thought. The fun loving turtle blocked a staff blow from a large Cabbat. Then using one nunchaku like a club he launched it at his opponents head. This made the turtleoid stagger back and the turtle used the opportunity to jump and kick in midair. This knocked the Cabbat down to the ground, but he wasn't out even if he didn't stand up right away. However, Mike was then forced to ignore him and face another one almost right away.

He spun his weapons not noticing another Cabbat approaching from behind, but that one never came close to Michelangelo. A hard metallic object landed on the turtleoid's head, the hit was hard enough to knock him out. Mike heard the clang and glanced back. The orange-clad ninja was surprised to see Don swinging with his tied up hands a metallic pole.

"Don't forget Mike, watch your enemy." The purple wearing turtle grinned than jumped past his little brother, landing the pole end on the other Cabbat Mikey had been facing. The hit was on the plastron but hard enough for the creature to step back. Donatello then used the pole like a bat to land a heavy blow on the head. The Cabbat crashed to the ground groaning.

"Dude." Mike knew his brother was good with staff like weaponry but not with tied up hands. He then saw Don skip away swinging his metallic weapon, reminding the orange turtle. "Oh yeah the battle."

"Hey Raph got a minute." Donatello appeared right beside Raphael and thrust the pole upwards landing it on the Cabbat Raph had been facing.

"What the hell… Donny?" The red-masked turtle looked at his brother surprised. Donatello had to disarm and knock away two more Cabbats before there was a few seconds peace to talk with Raph.

"Quick, use your sai to break the chains." Don held out his tied up hands. Raphael wasted no words and did exactly what his brother told him. The chains were rusty and it was easy for the strong turtle to obliterate the bonds. Now free Don threw the pole away and grabbed up a wooden staff that had fallen from an unconscious Cabbat.

"Ah much better." the purple-clad one grinned and headed off to battle more. Raph had no more time to wonder where his brother had popped up from, as he had to face more charging Cabbats.

Casey was having a bit rougher time but he didn't complain. He was no expert in marital arts like his mutant friends and though he had roughed up his fair share of scumbags, this was no different. The Cabbats were large and durable. One knock wasn't always enough to get them to back. However, the man was careful enough to aim for the soft flesh not the hard shell and plastron. He soon was joined by Mikey against three charging turtleoids.

"Are we having fun yet?" the turtle asked as he landed an uppercut against one.

"Not sure about you but I'm lovin' this." Casey grinned as his bat connected the neck of a turtleoid. "These guys know how to fight."

"Donny is here, oh look," Mike pointed where Don had used his new staff as a pole and landed hard with his feet on Accrel who fell down. His staff did the rest of the job knocking the former prison guard out.

"Ya know Mikey I think these guys are drunk and tired," Casey commented. "I mean I've had to rough up fair share of that kind of scum and these Cabbats look it."

* * *

The only one not fighting was Dia, as soon as the battle had erupted she had used the commotion to sneak off. She had no desire to fight against an enemy she knew too well what did too human prisoners. The woman had pretended to go and fight but soon slipped seemingly unnoticed away.

She had the intention to head straight for the forest. However, fearing discovery on her escape she slipped into a hut that seemed unoccupied and was close to the woods. The woman was preparing to open a window that was in the back when a groan grabbed her attention.

"Who is this?" a weak voice asked. Dia froze; the voice had been all too familiar. Too curious as always, the woman approached the corner the voice had come from. She saw the silhouette of a Cabbat lying in a bed. He was half raised in the bed to see who was there.

"What is with all the noise outside?" the voice asked again.

"M-Mizuri?" Dia fell to her knees when her mind finally registered whose voice this was. It was too dark so she couldn't see the startled expression arrive on the Cabbat.

"Dia… no… what are you doing here?" he asked trying to sit up but winched in pain and was forced to lie back down. The woman scrambled to the bedside.

"How can this be, I saw Alo run you through," she whispered feeling for her lover who had bandages on many places.

"He only stabbed me through the side to immobilize me. You probably saw it as if I had been run through. Don't forget, Cabbats don't kill other Cabbats. Nevertheless, Alo has no remorse punishing us harshly for what we do. But he will never kill any of us," Mizuri looked up and was very worried. "Dia what are you doing here, Alo has been keeping me here to suffer and allowed only people to feed me occasionally to enter."

"Alo took prisoners from a small gang of strange Cabbats, they are freeing them. They are really skillful fighters, they are all holding their own against your whole tribe," Dia said. Mizuri sank back down sighing.

"You should leave, if Alo catches you near me again you will be begging for death before you know it," he said.

"No, I'm not leaving you again," the woman said stubbornly. The Cabbat tried to rise up again and was aided by Dia.

"Dia." he reached out and felt for the woman's cheek. Gently he started to caress it. Then he put his other hand on her other cheek stroking that one too.

"I'm sorry," he then whispered, Dia heard no more the Cabbat was too quick. He suddenly had a firm hold on her head and swiftly snapped her neck breaking it, killing the woman instantly. The body sunk to the floor and the turtleoid lay back down, tears flowing down.

"I'm so sorry, but I prefer you die by my hands but being tortured by Alo," he whispered. He didn't notice that the door was half way open and a turtle wearing a red mask was peering through.

 **End chapter 14**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 01/01 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 15**

"Mikey, Casey, Jala is in this hut, go get her." Donatello appeared where his brother and the man were fighting off two Cabbats. The turtle pointed with the staff at Alo's hut. The purple-clad ninja then jumped away heading for more turtleoids.

"Come on." Mikey motioned to the man and they both ran off.

Don in the meantime circled around looking for another opponent. The ninja was about to head off to aid Raph who was coming from a hut close to the forest, when he noticed near the fireplace where Leo and Alo still fought. His brother was starting to tire and. The large Cabbat had so far showed enough skills and durability to last against the blue-clad turtle.

 _'She was a little feisty but after few hits she learned to be silent and stop the futile struggling.'_ Alo's words came up in Donatello's mind. His anger rose as he remembered what the turtleoid had been doing to the woman.

He spun his staff and took an attacking position while observing the fight between the two. A brief battle erupted between him and a Cabbat that came running, but the larger creatures was easily pinned down and knocked out. Don turned his attention back to Alo and Leonardo. He approached when eyeing an opening.

* * *

Leo was mildly surprised to see Don suddenly appearing behind them, swing his staff and landing the heavy blow on the tribe leader. Alo dropped the sword and staggered to the side. Leonardo didn't manage to use this sudden opportunity; Donatello was way ahead of him.

The normally calm and clear thinking turtle was enraged. The staff went off like a baseball bat connecting with the staggering tribe leader. His head snapped up at the force of the blow. He then landed harshly on the ground. The Cabbat was still moving so Don thrust his staff at the head again effectively knocking Alo out. However, Donatello wasn't finished just yet, he raised his staff again.

"Donatello." Leo jumped forward dropping his katana. The blue-clad ninja just managed to grab his brother's hands before the staff came down. The force would probably have crushed the skull on the turtleoid.

"Let me go Leo, this lowlife deserves to die," Don snapped trying to pry himself loose, but Leo held a firm grip on his brother, bewildered to see Donatello so angry.

"Donny, he's down, we won look." Leo tried to gesture around with his head. All the Cabbats had seen Alo's defeat and had stopped fighting. Raphael stood glaring around but the turtleoids around him didn't dare to approach now, staring shocked where their leader lay unconscious.

"I don't care, this bastard raped Jala." Don tried again to lift his staff for a deadly blow. Leo grabbed for it and forced it out of his brother's hands, throwing it away.

"Calm down, Don, he already got what he deserved. He will probably never live with this shameful defeat. He fought with no honor, but we won." Leo took his brother into his arms hugging him. Donatello was now trembling, he was still angry but there was also heavy guilt.

"I couldn't protect them; I heard her screams and begs. I was tied down and couldn't help. Braka was tied down like a dog. He was no more than a pet for them." He couldn't help himself any longer and let go of his emotions. Don cried bitterly in his older brother's embrace. "I was helpless, she was disgraced and all I could do was listening to her screams."

"Don, it's all right. We have won; I can see Mike and Casey carrying her out. Let's go home, we have already sent Braka there," Leo said soothingly. Raph appeared still eyeing around.

"Looks like without a leader all fight is out," he grunted. Then he noticed his distressed purple-clad brother. "What's wrong with Donny?"

"We'll talk about that later, let's get out of here," Leo said and let go of Donatello who was still sobbing. Casey and Mike arrived carrying the rymska woman. She looked very weak and her fur was matted, her eyes were half closed and she tried to struggle.

"We found her like this," Mikey said sadly.

"Casey, the crystals." Leo looked at the man who nodded reaching for his pocket. Donatello pushed him away from Jala. The purple-masked ninja grabbed up the woman, almost ripping her away from Mike and knelt down with her.

"Whoa easy dude," the orange clad turtle said but Don didn't listen. He was franticly examining the woman to try to determine what was wrong. However, when seeing the dilated pupils and the tongue had a strange color on it, he came to a horrid conclusion.

"She's been drugged," he whispered feeling more tears come crawling. He hugged the woman tightly. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for not helping you. I wanted too and I'm sorry for misunderstanding your culture. You have every right to stick to what your species wants. I'm sorry if I offended you."

The others just stared in wonder at the event in front of them. Donatello kept hugging and talking to the woman ignoring his brothers and Casey. Then a grunt nearby from Alo kicked everybody back to reality. Leo was handed the bag and the turtle picked up a crystal.

"Ok everybody, hold on to each other," he said. Mikey put one hand on Don's shoulder and Casey as well, Raph grabbed the man's shirt and Leo took his red-masked brother's hand.

"All right, everybody think…" The flashing light cut off Leo.

They didn't reappear in the subway lair. Five pairs of very surprised eyes looked around as they were in a middle of a street of what looked like a town; the buildings were mostly made of yellowish brown rock. What surprised them the most was seeing rymskas, ymskas, umskas and other creatures that Jala had described for them once, Rytonas. A realization hit Donatello.

 _She…_ He looked at the drugged woman in his arms. _She must have thought of her own home._

* * *

"Very interesting," the lion like creature that was called a hokka muttered as he regarded the four turtles and one man. Then he glanced at a paper on his table and nodded. Despite his lion like look, his mane did not go under his throat or muzzle.

Leonardo nodded to confirm his tale. The blue-clad turtle had told mostly in detail what had happened from the day Raphael had brought Braka to their den. He had also added his and his brother's origin story. Some Rytonas in red shorts had brought them to this building. Jala had been taken away, probably to a hospital.

"This does match to what our investigations had been leading too. Daram's cousin has been handling certain matters for him, said Daram and Jala had gone off to look for Daram's son on their own. We were too late to prevent them from going and so far hadn't managed to trace their travel," hokka then said and looked back at the group.

"Man, so close," Mikey muttered.

"But what about Akre… I don't know how much my brother who was his captive can tell, but I assure you we will tell you everything we know," Leonardo said, he had figured this had to be the Rytona police force.

"Well that's not my field unfortunately, but we do appreciate it thank you. But we better now let you go to the hospital to have your battle wounds tended," the hokka said and rose up.

"Do not bother yourself High Forest Guard. I'll take them," a cold voice addressed them, everybody turned to the door to see a man slightly smaller than Casey standing in the frame. However, it wasn't a man, it was a landan. As Jala had told them once, they were the human looking Rytonas.

This one was dressed in a green sleeveless shirt, camouflage pants and what looked like army boots. He wore sunglasses and though small, he looked very muscular. The stranger had a strong air of authority around him. Leo noticed the hokka bowing his head in respect.

"Very well, honorable Ice," he said. The landan turned to the group and gestured them to follow him out. Leonardo looked at his brothers and Casey, everybody were a bit unsure but in the end followed the stranger.

They were all brought over to the hospital that was not very large. Once inside the turtles and Casey recognized a very familiar atmosphere, just the doctors and nurses were not human in this case. They were all herded into one room where each turtle and Casey were looked over and their injuries taken care of.

"Ow!" Raph growled when a nurse sprayed something over a gash on his arm. He glared at the smiling jackalish woman. "That hurt."

"Calm down, it's only to make sure it doesn't get infected," she said and started to patch the turtle up. There was some snickering from his brothers.

Leo was the least injured only few bumps and bruises. Mikey had a slight cut on his upper arm but otherwise was all right. Casey had two cuts, though not deep they were still stitched up just in case.

"It looks like your beak could be fractured," the nurse examining Donatello said. She was a reindeeroid and the turtle remembered Jala calling those rampas. "Come with me, we better take some pictures of this."

Don was led out of the room just as the landan who had brought them there walked in. Everybody stood up and the nursing staff tending to the injured excused themselves and left.

"You said you had crystals that transported you here," Ice, as the landan had been addressed, said surprising the others a bit about going straight for a certain point. Leo nodded and Casey took up the pouch.

"May I see them?" Ice asked and was handed the bag. Opening it, he examined the content carefully but then nodded satisfied.

"Transportation crystals and very unstable ones at that." He looked up at the group frowning. "I hope you haven't been using them too much."

"Only two or three times," Leo answered. The landan closed the bag and put it on a nearby table.

"Welcome to Rytonas. If that has been forgotten to say and thank you for taking care of Jala and her nephew," Ice said. Leo put his right clenched fist into his left palm and bowed slightly.

"We help those who need it," he said simply. Ice nodded giving a strange smile, as if he wasn't used to smiling at all.

"Yes I could sense strong sense of justice and will to help those in need from you," Ice said earning some strange looks from everybody. However, he was used these kind of reactions. "Let's just say that I am not all what I look like."

"But tell me, the child, is it still on your world?" the Rytona then asked but was satisfied when everybody nodded.

"Our friend is taking care of him while we are here," Leo then said.

"Good." Ice then noticed that everybody safe for Mikey was standing. He gestured to the various seats. "Please sit down, and by all means, tell me everything that has happened."

* * *

Donatello stared amazed at the holographic image. It was of his skull in perfect detail. He looked at the nurse who was smiling at his wonder. The turtle had of course seen something like this in TV shows, but never dreamt of seeing it in real life.

"How?" was the only thing he could whisper.

"I'm afraid I don't know the technical details. This technology was developed by another species that are in general called Ru'uians, they are very technologically advanced. This is much safer than the old X-rays," the rampa woman explained. She then pointed at where Don's beak was.

"An apparently it would be more correct to call your beak a snout, it isn't solid bone. No wonder you can move your lips so easily, that explains why I felt it being a bit loose. I thought, since you are actually a turtle that the beak would be solid," the reindeeroid explained.

"Well, I'm not a usual turtle, you see I mutated into my form." He looked at the nurse sighing. "I used to be just the usual pet turtle swimming in a fish bowl."

"I see, interesting," the rampa didn't seem too fazed about this new information and continued to examine the display. "Well I was wrong about your beak, but there are some cuts there in your mouth. Were you hit?"

"Yes, several times. I was being forced to tell information." Donatello shuddered at the memories.

"I was a prisoner of creatures that are called Cabbats. They thought I was one of them and thought I had been meddling with humans and they hate them. They wanted to know where my tribe was to punish it as well," he then explained to the nurse.

"Right." The rampa hesitated and then looked at the turtle. "Do you know what happened to the rymska woman who you and your brethren arrived with? The drugs have worn off, but she refuses to talk."

Donatello had to find a chair in the room and sat down, the memories of Jala's screams and begs were just too much. He didn't notice the worried frown come on the nurse as she approached him.

"The reason I ask is because she was very bruised and dehydrated, probably results from the drugs, she also had some other inj…"

"I know, she was raped." Don cut the woman short. The purple clad ninja was staring at the floor dejected. "I heard her screams, I heard her beg for mercy in her own language. I couldn't do anything. I could only sit tied to a pole and do nothing."

"Oh my." The rampa covered her mouth with one hand when hearing this. "You shouldn't blame yourself though, if you were restrained then there was nothing…"

"Don't," Don snapped. "I had the full opportunity to protect her and her nephew. However, I was beaten and we were taken captive. Don't tell me there was nothing I could do, I could but I failed. Not even pretending to be her husband saved her. The Cabbats thought I was her mate, but not even that protected her."

"Would you like to see her? Maybe she will talk with you," the nurse offered. Donatello stood up shaking. He nodded and was gestured to follow the woman out.

He was led to another floor where he finally entered a room with a single hospital bed. In it with a tube connected to her arm leading to a bag with transparent liquid, lay Jala staring into air.

Don walked to the bed worried that there was no reaction from the rymska. He heard the door close and noticed that he had been left alone. The turtle fetched a nearby chair and sat down beside the bed. Then Jala turned her head to face him.

"I'm… home," she said but Don could hear the slight disbelief in her voice.

"Yes, we are in your world now, we got you there finally." He tried to smile but failed. He could see that the woman was in pain and the ninja knew all to well why.

"I can't close my eyes… I see the face… that-that horrible grin…" she whispered. "I can… can still feel… feel his filthy touch… and… and…"

"Shh, don't work yourself up." Don was worried she would have a strong reaction in the bed. "Try not to think about it, try to relax."

"I try," Jala confessed closing her eyes only a bit, a tear crawled down. "I try… but I can still feel. He was so violent…"

"Jala, you are safe now. I took care of him, I fought him with my brother and we won, he won't hurt you anymore," Donatello tried gently patting her on the hand. He jerked it back when seeing the expression come on the rymska. He looked at it, the skin and probably the touch. It must have reminded her of Alo.

"I'm sorry," he muttered putting his hand down.

"No… I'm sorry, you are not him… you are not even same species," she said.

"What about the baby, you are pregnant." Don tried to find another subject.

"They told me it was all right," Jala confessed. He leaned forward with a slight smile.

"And you are going to be a wonderful mother. In fact, you already are a wonderful mother. Braka needs a mother and he needs you," he said. At that, Jala opened her eyes staring the turtle right in the eyes.

"I guess…" she whispered. "He's the only one I got now… Daram is gone…"

"And after few months, Braka will be having a sibling. Then there will be three of you," Don smiled wider.

Slowly the woman lifted one arm and reached out to the turtle, gingerly she put one finger on his beak. Then she said something in her own language and actually smiled slightly. The hand dropped back to the bed.

"Uh excuse me?" Don had been taken by surprise when she touched his beak, but he hadn't caught what she said.

"Nothing… not important… I need sleep, but I'm afraid too," she said. "He still has me… I can't let go… he always comes back…"

* * *

"Interesting, very interesting," was the only thing Ice said once Leonardo had finished telling the full tale. Then there were few minutes of silence, the landan hadn't interrupted the turtle at all, just sat and listened.

"I'm truly sorry you had to run into Akre and his team." He finally broke the silence.

"I'm sorry I didn't get him," Raphael muttered under his breath.

"I have wondered about few things regarding this Akre," Leo mentioned. "Some things about that whole deal just didn't make sense really."

"Join the club, membership is free." Ice surprised everybody with the joke safe for Mike who chuckled.

"For one, when my brothers and I first encountered him, he abruptly stopped the fight, neither side was really winning and he gave us the victory. Another thing I never understood is why all this trouble to get one person to be silent. As well why didn't he avenge his men, my brother and I did kill few of them, they just up and left once he had Daram killed," Leonardo explained.

"Ah you see Akre is strictly business, he as a surprising control over all of his followers. If he sees no point in something, he won't continue and stops it. He must have seen no point in fighting you and your brothers and thus just decided to quit it. After all you stood your ground against his bodyguards who are one of the best fighters here in Rytonas, many of our law enforcers, we call them Forest Guards, can vouch for that," the landan started to tell the turtles.

"So, seeing that this wasn't going anywhere he just decided to stop the fight?" the blue-clad turtle was really surprised to hear that.

"Since you weren't exactly hurting his business, he probably wouldn't have cared less that you knocked out his men," Ice confirmed with a nod.

"As for why all this trouble, well Akre has a thing for loyalty. By the looks of it, Daram was being disloyal to him and he hates that, punishment is usually death. He probably thought he would turn him around by kidnapping his wife and child. That didn't seem to work so he killed the wife as a warning. Then Daram's son escaped. Had Daram thought ahead he should have contacted us instead of risking both himself and his sister by going and search for the boy on their own. Akre must have simply decided that the best way to shut Daram up was by killing him."

"It still sounds way too complicated." Leonardo frowned, Ice stood up arms folded and nodding.

"Yes I know, but that's Akre to you. Complications on complications on complications, he has a talent to make things complicated for everybody and the best thing is, we really can't touch him as we lack evidences and his stronghold is very well fortified," he told them. "As for why he didn't kill you two for killing his men, well he told you the reason. You were only there to rescue your brother and he couldn't really blame you two for that. You didn't interfere with his business except for harboring the boy. With Daram dead, the child was of no concern to him. His men might want revenge but they respect Akre's wishes, they are very loyal to him."

"Well he better not show his ugly mug near me, or I'll make it uglier," Raph growled cracking his knuckles.

Ice looked at him once more but said nothing. The door opened and Donatello walked in escorted by the rampa nurse. She excused herself and left. Leonardo was immediately at his brother's side.

"Hey, you all right?" he asked concerned laying one hand on Don's shoulder.

"I… I don't know," the intelligent turtle whispered looking at Leo. The older turtle immediately spotted the red in his eyes, Don had been crying before returning.

"I will let you be for now, I have to go and talk with my co-workers. I'll be back to help bring you all back to your world," Ice said and then grabbed the crystal bag. "If you don't mind I would like to borrow these, I need to show them this."

Nobody argued as they were all gathering around Don who just stood and stared at Leo dejected. Ice disappeared out of the room, but they didn't notice that it was in a flash instead of walking out of the door.

"Leo," Donatello said. "She isn't Braka's aunt. She is his mother, biological mother. She was not Daram's sister. She was his wife. It was Daram's sister who Akre killed, she was the one Braka has been thinking was his mother. All because Jala hasn't been allowed to be his mother."

Confused eyes all gazed at the turtle in purple, his head dropped. Don would have slumped to the floor if Mikey hadn't quickly placed a chair under his brother.

"It has something to do with their culture, the rymskas that is… I didn't understand it… why should I, it sounded unfair to me…" Donatello began rambling.

"Whoa, whoa hold on bro, what the hell are you talkin' about and please start at the beginning," Raph interrupted. His brother glanced up, sighing deeply he then told them about his chat with Jala in the bathroom. How he had become frustrated at her for just swallowing this injustice against her.

"Is that really what is bothering you right now?" Leo asked placing his hand once more on Don's shoulder.

"No, it was seeing her in the hospital bed. We talked, then she recalled it… the events… it reminded me… how I heard her scream… and I couldn't do anything…" Don started to shake badly. He soon found himself again in Leo's embrace crying. One hand was slung around the Leonardo's shoulder the other was gripping Mike's hand. Raphael found himself patting Donatello's shoulder.

"It's all right bro, we got you and her out of there," he muttered, the red-masked turtle really didn't know what to say. This had obviously bitten his brother very hard, he could relate. Raph hated feeling helpless, unable to do anything.

"Raphael is right Don," Leonardo whispered. "The important thing is we got you both out, she will recover. It will take time, but she is a strong woman. You did your best. In fact you gave the order to bring her out. We didn't even need to rescue you; you escaped on your own."

"Yeah dude, you really surprised me suddenly appearing swinging that metal pole," Mike nudged Don who had become silent.

"It was a no-brainer; the pole was simply dug down with no real support. I only had to nudge it slightly to loosen it and then pull it up," they heard him mumble. "Then it was a simple matter of bringing my arms in front and take out the guard."

"Yeah but only you would have thought of doing something like that only few hours after you are captured," Mike mentioned.

"Yo guys, I just realized that that chick that was with us isn't exactly here," chimed in their human friend. Donatello freed himself from Leo and looked around.

"Yeah, where is Dia?" he asked.

"Dead."

Eight eyes swung to stare shocked at Raphael who was rubbing his forehead looking tired. The red-clad turtle realized there was no escaping from it; he had to tell what happened to the woman.

"Saw her try and sneak off from the fight, she entered a hut close to the forest. Was probably goin' to use a window in it to slip unnoticed. A Cabbat there killed her," he explained, Raph wanted to simply leave it at that hoping that was enough.

The gazes from his brothers and Casey clearly indicated that he was not quite off the hook. Donatello especially wanted to hear more as his brow dropped down in a heavy frown.

"Right… it was this guy she thought the tribe leader had killed, this Mizuerl or whatever his name was. He didn't, just injured him badly. He killed her probably so his brother wouldn't," Raphael scratched the back of his neck. "Look I didn't know he was goin' to kill her until he had already snapped her bloody neck. For all I knew he was preparin' to kiss her or sumthin'. After all she said they were lovers."

"All right, Raph, calm down. We understand," Leo said calmly.

"I wonder if we can get something to eat here, I'm starving," Mike mentioned suddenly, rubbing his now roaring tummy. It was then they realized none of them had eaten since yesterday.

"Well, I sure hope not exactly in this place, hospital food is not food," Raphael growled.

"How would you know?" Mike grinned only to receive a glare from his brother.

"It probably won't hurt to go and ask." Leonardo walked to the door and opened it. He managed to stop a rymska doctor and asked about the subject of food. The doctor entered the room and observed everybody critically.

"Follow me, I'll show you the cafeteria," he said then and the Rytona led them out. They went down one floor and into what looked just like a common cafeteria; just none of the staff were humans. He left the turtles and one man alone, telling them much to their surprise that the food was free.

 **End chapter 15**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 22/01 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 16**

The five soon gathered by one table in the cafeteria with various food items on a plate. They weren't familiar with anything that had been offered, so all of them trusted on luck that this wasn't going to disagree with the stomachs.

Of course Mike piled stuff without a second thought on his plate and was happy shoveling this all into his mouth. Leo was the most cautious one, taking only one dish of what looked like a slice of meat.

"Man this is bitter," Casey complained, he had been slightly more adventurous than Leonardo but more picky than Raph.

"I think this is a fruit," Don observed, he was holding a yellow ball like substance. That was the only thing he was nibbling at. His other hand was under the chin, the mind still on the rymska woman lying in a hospital bed on another floor.

"Whatever this is, I'm not sure it's dead," Raph had on a fork something red and it looked like it was wiggling.

"I think it's dead, looks like jello." Leo leaned in closer to inspect Raph's red food. A loud belch caught attention of the four of them. Happily leaning back in his chair was Mike patting his full belly with a large smile.

"At least somebody enjoyed this," the red clad turtle grunted and then risked eating the 'jello'. His eyes widened in surprise. "The hell? This is meat!"

"Maybe it has a meat taste, who knows." Leonardo shrugged. "I'm just not going to ask from what these are."

"Don't," Casey warned. He had finally managed to chow down the last thing on his plate. But his face clearly indicated that it wasn't exactly his choice of meal. "Man, I can't wait to get home and have a decent food."

"What are you guys talking about, this stuff was great," Mikey claimed but he was ignored, normally if it was edible the turtle ate it without complaints.

Leonardo having only taken slightly less than Don, was actually last to finish his food. His mind was going over the past events, especially what had been occurring for the past week or so. He realized that it had effectively distracted him from what had happened before. With only occasional memory flashes, but not enough to put him down like it had done at first.

The blue clad turtle frowned a little and touched the scar on his beak. He hadn't had a chance to ask anybody around if they were familiar with a black clad turtle. However, by the talk around him, the ninja was not very convinced he would get answers. Some of the hospital people had been surprised to see them, enough to indicate that walking talking reptiles were not common.

"Hey, earth to Leo." A hand was waved in front of him. Leonardo looked up and stared at grinning Mike.

"Sorry, you were addressing me?" he asked.

"Just wondering if you were going to drop back into the attitude," Raph remarked but grinned. "You were rubbing your scar and looking rather lost."

"Oh." Leo removed his hand from the beak. "Well… no I'm sorry about that… I guess I…"

"Ok tell you what, when we get home I'll tell you what happened. I'm sorry that I have been keeping this like this… I just…" but his red-masked brother silenced him.

"Yo it's ok, you will tell it when we get home," he said still grinning.

The conversation was interrupted by a sudden breeze, looking towards the source everybody had to strain their necks to look up. An over seven foot tall, very thin landan had suddenly appeared. He was wearing a regular grey sweater, blue jeans and brown shoes. How he had acquired any of these clothes for his length was anybody's guess.

"I was told I could find you here." The man had a very calm voice and his expression was very relaxed. Quite different from the sharp faced and ice cold voiced Ice.

"Who are you?" Leonardo asked.

"I am Air, Second Gjarke Gerio of the Rytonas," he introduced himself, grabbed a nearby chair and sat down. Leo then recalled Ice calling himself the High Gjarke Gerio. "We have examined the crystals you used, backtracked them and from there found your world, so we can take you home as soon as you wish."

"That was fast," Mike said surprised.

"We have our ways to work at good speed. I will be accompanying you when you go home so I can retrieve the child and bring him to his mother," Air explained. The turtles were startled to hear this.

"But…" Don started but the tall man silenced him by raising one hand in a signal.

"I have already spoken with Jala. We will take care of her now. She will be allowed to be the child's mother. The rymska representatives in the parliament had confirmed some time ago that her father-in-law abused his powers within the family. That will nullify any orders he did. A cousin of Daram's was working on Daram's behalf just before he and Jala went over to search for their son," Air said, then in a sudden flash four calculator looking devices appeared in his hands but nobody had a chance to ask. Each of the turtles were handed one.

"These are dimension travelers and you can use them to travel easier and safer through dimensions than with the crystals. Currently they are all set to open a portal to this world and more specific to the town of Hona which you are currently situated in," he explained, then looking at Casey. "We weren't sure if you wished for such a device, but one can be made ready for you."

"Ah no thanks, I think I'll let Donny handle this tech stuff," the human said. The turtles were all examining their newly acquired devices.

"So you mean we can come here whenever we wish?" Mike looked up, eyes wide in wonder.

"We saw no reason to forbid you," Air simply told him nodding. "Consider it a thank you for helping one of ours."

* * *

 **TMNT world**

April, Splinter and young Braka all turned when the light breeze filled the subway station for a moment. Then they saw the four turtles, Casey Jones and a tall stranger standing close by.

 _They weren't kidding when they told me they were called 'Magic Master',_ Don thought when the hospital had suddenly changed into the lair.

Braka rushed up when he saw who had come and flung himself into the arms of Raphael.

"Dadarad, dadarad," he chanted hugging the turtle tight.

"Jeez kid, you are making me look soft here." He grinned picking up the boy.

"Master Splinter, this is Air, he is the second Gjarke Gerio of the Rytonas, Jala's people," Leonardo introduced the stranger to his sensei.

"Greetings, I am returning your sons to you and with gratitude for taking care of two of our people," Air didn't bow but held up one hand as gesture of respect.

"That was more than welcome, we help those who are in need." Splinter nodded, he and April had stood up and walked towards the others.

"I cannot stay for much longer I am afraid, I must return the child to his mother," Air turned to Raph and Braka, the boy was staring at the tall landan shyly.

"Well kid, guess that's goodbye." Raphael sighed knowing there was no use fighting this.

"With your dimension traveler you can always drop by for a visit," Air reminded the red-clad ninja.

"Yeah I guess," Raph put Braka down reluctantly and then led the boy to the landan. Air knelt down not taking his very calm and relaxed eyes of the shy child.

"Braka, ge ahg dadarad ejele, do ska eg mame," he said. The boy perked up.

"Mame?" Braka gasped, Air nodded and stood up again.

"I told him that you would come visit him later, but now he must go and see his mother," he explained to Raph who nodded briefly, his face was hardened. He was not going to be soft, not going to cry. He could visit the kid he had grown fond of whenever he wished.

Raphael was broken from any thought that was going on in his mind when furry arms wrapped around his right leg, looking down revealed Braka hugging him tight.

"Ege hujo ahg dadarad," he said smiling wide. Raph put one hand on the boy's crown and ruffled it gently.

"Yeah, love you too kid." The turtle sighed; Braka let go of him, walked to Air and took his hand. Then with a wave, the boy was gone in the light breeze the tall landan could generate.

"How did you know what he said Raph?" Donatello asked surprised.

"I don't know," the red-masked turtle shrugged. "I guess I just did."

"Aw, Raphie boy is going soft, he misses the boy already." Mike nudged his red wearing brother.

"What did you call me?" Raphael snapped his head sideways glaring at his brother who smiled innocently.

"I mean kids have this effect on people, no shame in it." The orange clad turtle backed away slowly. Then with a jerk ran off when his very angry brother decided to teach him how to keep the mouth shut.

"Leonardo, I think it's time Miss O'Neil and I are allowed to hear the whole story," Splinter addressed his oldest son. Leonardo turned away from watching Raphael chase Mike around the lair and looked at his sensei.

"The complete story Master Splinter," the blue masked turtle said and gestured to them to sit down. "I think it's time I tell also what happened to me."

Donatello who had been warning Raphael and Michelangelo off, the two had run dangerously close to his lab, turned when hearing his blue clad brother. The purple clad ninja sat down beside April and Casey on the couch. Mike and Raph then came running.

"Raphael! Michelangelo!" Splinter said sharply, stopping his sons effectively. Soon everybody was seated in the living room.

Leonardo began telling what exactly had happened after the turtles, Jala, Braka and Dia had disappeared from the lair. Then once that was finished he lowered his head a bit, sighing and shook his head a little.

"First I want to apologize for my behavior… I guess I was frustrated and a bit freaked out… I had nearly been killed," he said and once more, his hand went for the scar. He began digging into his memory.

"But my enemy was not a Foot Clan member. Not a street punk, it was a turtle. Like us a mutant, clad in clothes all black in color. He carried a rifle and a single katana as weapons. He was almost too much for me handle, almost killed me. I don't know why he didn't end me," Leonardo began.

* * *

 _Few weeks ago._

 _Time to head home I guess,_ the blue-clad turtle thought as he quickly and silently scaled down the fire escape.

As he approached the manhole, the ninja thought few moments back. For a while it had been like somebody was watching him. Then the feeling had gone and when nothing happened, Leonardo had ignored it. Little did he realize that he would soon be regretting that.

He was about to reach for the manhole cover, when suddenly a bullet whistled past him. It landed on the cover with a clang and ricocheted off it. Leonardo scrambled back and hid in a nearby shadow. For a moment the turtle just sat still, wondering what had just happened.

 _Was I spotted?_ he thought worried. It wouldn't be unlikely for a human to take him for some wild animal, thinking the only sensible thing was to shoot him down.

Nothing happened, carefully Leonardo approached the cover but once more a bullet ricocheted off the cover. Again, the ninja found himself scrambling for safety. His heart pounding inside his chest, one bullet might have been nothing. However, two was too much of a coincident for the turtle. Somebody did not want him to go down there.

Silently and hopefully unseen, Leo escaped from the alley and tried to locate another manhole. Every time he tried to approach one, the turtle was awarded with rain of bullets. One even came too close to comfort. There was no doubt for the turtle now. He was being stalked and prevented to get to safety.

 _Better head for the roofs and hope I can lose whoever it is there,_ he thought and could only hope to find a concealed enough fire escape.

Leonardo managed to reach the rooftops and began running. As the ninja was leaping over an alleyway, the feeling of being followed hit him. He frowned and when landing on the other roof, quickly ducked into hiding. Leo waited for a moment before darting off again. Yet no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't shake off the feeling of being followed.

Finally, the turtle decided he had enough. With a growl, he drew up his katana while in the air. Then the ninja landed in a ready battle position. There he stood for a while, waiting and waiting. Nothing happened, his breathing was heavy and his heart was beating fast and hard.

 _Whoever you are, why don't you just show yourself?_ he frowned and sheathed his swords. The turtle took off again but had barely arrived on another roof when once more the feeling of being followed came.

Leonardo figured he had to be extremely quick. He instantly jumped down into an alley and quickly went for a manhole; Leo didn't care where it would take him. Just that it led to the safety of the sewers. The turtle had barely approached the cover when a bullet hit him. It chipped the edge of his carapace that peeked over the left shoulder.

The ninja yelped in pain and managed to throw himself away. He crawled into the safety of a concealing shadow. Then felt for his shoulder and gritted his teeth when finding the wound on his carapace. Fortunately, that wound was superficial, it would hurt but he was at least not bleeding.

He took a deep breath and decided to try another run for the cover. This time the edge of his carapace, peeking over his right shoulder was chipped. Leonardo knew now and then, whoever was chasing him would not let him down into the sewers.

 _Damn you,_ the turtle growled as he hulked once more in the shadow. The carapace wound stung now, but that was his worst injury so far. However, chances were that he wouldn't be getting away without a worse one.

Suddenly he did feel a presence and tensed up. There was definitely someone nearby. However, the person wasn't approaching, kept well out of sight. Leonardo narrowed his eyes; it was the one stalking him.

Leonardo rubbed his forehead tiredly. By now he had been up far longer than planned. Leo picked up a can and threw it to the cover. The ninja could hear the faint click as somebody trained a weapon, a rifle no doubt. He tried to calm himself down; somehow, he had to change this hunt. Turn the hunter into a prey. The reptile had no desire to be in that role any longer.

Quickly Leo made his way back to the rooftop. He could definitely feel now the person following him. Whoever it was, there was absolutely no sign of the individual. That puzzled the turtle. Someone had to be very good at stealth to remain unseen; especially from a ninja

"Ok I refuse to play this game any…" Leonardo had to throw himself away. He had heard the faint click. It took him by no surprise that a bullet whistled by soon after. The game had changed. The hunt had officially begun.

* * *

Leonardo broke up the door, breathing heavily and stumbled inside. It didn't lead to stairs, it was simply a tool shed. Now why there was a tool shed on the rooftop the turtle didn't know nor did he care. Leo sunk to the ground, holding his right upper arm. It was bleeding, just a scratch but still bleeding.

 _Please don't find me,_ he thought, his heart was racing, the breathing was getting frantic. The chase had been going on for hours now. Leonardo had been ducking and dodging bullets for a good portion of that time.

Often though it just felt like he was being kept on the run, some of the bullets were never close to be a threat. Some did come too close, like the one that had now scratched him. Leo was really starting to worry about his life. If he didn't get to the sewers soon, somebody would have his shell for a trophy.

The turtle froze when he clearly heard someone land on the rooftop he was on. His breathing accelerated for a moment. Then the ninja managed to grab a hold on himself. Leonardo gritted his teeth and slowly rose up. He let go of his arm and grabbed for a katana.

"I know you're in there, Leonardo," a chilly voice addressed him. Leo frowned; the voice was not familiar to him. Yet whoever it was, knew his name.

"This was a nice run, too bad I had to give you the incentive to keep running. Now why don't you come out?" the voice said and there was a chuckle.

 _Well if I'm going down, I might just as well see who it is,_ Leo thought. The turtle stepped forward and was barely ready for the shock.

In front of him stood a turtle, he was slightly smaller than him and basic green in color. The mystery reptile was clad in shorts, shirt, sandals, elbow and kneepads, gloves and a mask all black in color. A utility belt with gadgets and pouches encircled his waist. On the back, he carried a single katana with a black handle. In his right hand was a rifle. The stranger holstered it to his back when Leonardo came out of the tool shed, one hand on one of his katana.

"It… it's been you who's been hunting me?" Leo hardly could believe his eyes. The unknown turtle just smirked wide.

"Well hunting, more of a training run," the stranger said and suddenly drew up his katana sword and charged.

Leonardo was unprepared for the speed and just barely managed throw himself away. All previous fear and uncertainty were gone; he was now in a more familiar situation. Quickly the ninja drew up his katanas and jumped to his feet. This time he blocked an incoming blow from the turtle.

"Ok who the hell are you?" Leo growled and tried an upper kick. His opponent back flipped quickly away.

"Oh it's quite simple, Leonardo," the black-masked one snickered and tried to hew with his sword. That forced Leonardo to back a bit as he deflected the blow with his swords.

"I am you!"

* * *

 _Present._

There was silence in the lair. Leonardo had fallen silent once having reached that point in his telling. There was visible shock on most of them, Splinter just about managed to keep a calm exterior but still sported a worried frown.

"There… really isn't much to tell after that." Leo sighed deeply and looked up at his family and friends.

"The fight lasted for hours, he never once held back. If he could injure me, he did. I finally managed to escape away… but I was on my last nerve. I'm not sure how long I would have lasted," he admitted and began rubbing his hands together.

"But the experience disturbed me… had this been a human I might maybe have handled it better. But meeting someone… who claimed to be me from another reality…" Leonardo looked down.

"At first I wasn't really sure it was true. However, when Braka arrived and we had it confirmed that there existed other universes; I realized that much more that this had been possibly another version. Now… now I'm terribly worried… because I might just have been able to stop him…"

"What makes you think that Leo?" Donatello asked with a frown. He recalled when Leo had finally returned home, the turtle had been lucky to be alive.

"Well… maybe more of a wish I had stopped him." Leonardo palmed his face.

"He spoke of other counterparts. He told me he was only in our world for a quick detour, small fun before heading back to another world. Where he had something big planned for another counterpart of ours… if his general training runs consist of hunting me and almost killing me in a vicious battle… I shudder to think what he has in store for that counterpart." Leo looked up at his family. "To think that… I might possibly have been able to prevent something from happening…."

He froze for a moment and then looked at the dimension traveler on his belt. The one Air had given him; identical to the ones his brothers had been given. Slowly the blue masked turtle picked it up and examined it for a moment.

 _But maybe… maybe I can prevent others…_ Then he put the traveler on his belt.

"What's on your mind bro?" Raph inquired.

"I may not be able to help that counterpart he spoke off… but maybe, just maybe I can help others," he said and his face hardened a little bit. "Because I have this feeling that I was not the first… and I doubt the other will be the last."

* * *

 **Meanwhile in another TMNT-World**

"Yo Leo, hey earth to Leo?" Raph waved a hand in front of his blue-masked brother. Then he simply pushed him.

"Wha… hey what…" Leonardo dropped out of his thoughts and looked at his grinning very dark-green brother.

"You zoned out, are we going or what?" the red-masked turtle asked.

"Sure…" the basic-green one thought and looked over the city. They were standing on a rooftop. Raph frowned, recognizing the distant look in his brother. He was thinking something.

"What's up bro," the turtle wondered and began twirling one of his sai.

"I was thinking," the blue-clad one said and looked at his brother. Then he eyed were Don was talking with Mikey.

"It's been few days since that whole mess with the Assassin again, almost blew you guys up, his brothers and the cyborg," Leo said and glanced back over the city landscape.

"I just wonder about all the others he has hurt. Don told me about his hobby room, filled with pictures of my counterparts… one wonders if maybe one of them is now trying to locate the assassin for revenge." The basic-green turtle shrugged and turned to face his brother.

"I wouldn't blame him if one of them was," Raph said pointing his sai at Leo. "Tell you the truth, I'm kind of wishing to do the same."

"But we know where he's located," his brother said with a grin. That caused the red-mask one to grin wickedly.

"Exactly," Raphael said. Leo shook his head with a chuckle and then eyed his other brothers.

"All right let's get this training run going," he said and prepared to head off. Soon the turtle was leading the exercise over the rooftops, followed closely by his three brothers.

 **The End**

* * *

 **A/N:** I'm not translating what either Air or Braka said since the translation is pretty much given there in the body of the text, at least Air straight out says what he said, and well Raph hints what Braka said.

And the story ends in the 2k3 world, just to tie things even further to the Assassin series :D

I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it.


End file.
